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THF.ODORE  SEDGWICK  GOLO. 


HISTORICAL   RECORDS 


OF  THE 


Town  of  Cornwall 

LITCHFIELD   COUNTY 

CONNECTICUT 


COLLECTED   AND   ARRANGED    BY 

THEODORE   S.  GOLD 


SECOND  EDITION 


The  Case,  Lockwood  &  Brainard  Company 
1904 


/-  ( 1 


Preface  to  the  2d  Edition. 


This  contains  all  the  printed  matter  of  the  first  edition,  1877, 
and  correction  of  errors  found  in  the  same.  Part  second  has  been 
made  up  on  the  same  plan  as  the  first  —  largely  from  papers  col- 
lected from  those  best  qualified  to  give  facts,  especially  the  Rev. 
E.  C.  Starr  —  rather  than  fused  and  colored  by  the  compiler ;  also 
an  appendix.  Some  repetition  exists  in  Part  2d,  but  this  has  been 
avoided  as  much  as  possible. 

In  the  appendix  will  be  found:  Major-General  John  Sedg- 
wick's funeral  sermon,  by  Rev.  Charles  Wetherby,  May  15,  1864; 
sermon  of  Rev.  Dwight  M.  Pratt,  in  memory  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Scoville,  North  Cornwall  Church,  Aug.  24,  1902. 

The  good  words  we  have  received  for  the  first  edition  have  in- 
duced us  to  make  this  second  effort  in  recording  events  of  the  past 

and  present. 

THEODORE  SEDGWICK  GOLD, 

Editor  and  Publisher. 

West  Cornwall,  March  2,  1904. 


PREFACE- 


The  importance  of  preserving  in  permanent  form  the  incidents 
in  the  history  of  every  community  has  induced  me  to  gather  the 
materials  for  this  volume.  No  one  untried  in  such  work  is  aware 
of  the  diflBculties  encountered  in  collecting  unpublished  facts. 

My  honored  father,  Dr.  Samuel  W.  Gold,  in  his  advanced  years 
undertook  this  work,  and  I  shall  confine  myself  mostly  to  editing 
his  papers,  adding  such  historical  discourses  as  present  our  Hfe  in 
its  home  details,  omitting  in  large  degree  what  the  sons  of  Corn- 
wall have  done  in  national  affairs,  as  finding  its  appropriate  place  in 
national  history. 

Of  course  this  implies  some  repetition,  but  it  is  better  to  give 
original  records  than  to  trust  to  reorganizing  them,  for  thus  much 
of  their  peculiar  value  will  be  destroyed.  If  undue  prominence 
appears  to  have  been  given  to  any  events,  we  must  remember  that 
they  were  not  considered  as  small  by  the  actors  in  them,  and  per- 
haps may  thence  derive  some  useful  lessons  for  personal  appli- 
cation. 

I  have  solicited  full  details  of  family  histories,  and  have  waited 
a  year  for  such  documents.  Too  few  have  been  presented.  The 
leanness  of  this  department  is  due  to  the  neglect  of  those  who 
ought  to  feel  most  interest. 

T.  S.  GOLD. 

West  CoRjfWALL,  Conn.,  Sept.  10,  1877. 


HISTORICAL  EEOORD. 


CHARTER  AND  SURVEY  OF  THE  TOWN  OF  CORNWALL, 
RECORDED  IN  THE  FIRST  BOOK  OF  PROPRIE- 
TORS' RECORDS,  PAGES  275-280. 

At  a  General  Assembly  hoi  den  at  New  Haven,  in  His  Majesties  English 
Colony  of  Connecticut,  in  New  England,  in  America,  on  Thursday,  the 
13"=  Day  of  October,  Anno  R'  R'  Georgii  3*'  Magn  Britan,  &c.,  11  ^ 
Annoq:  Dom.  1737,  and  continued  by  several  adjournments  till  the 
second  day  of  November  next  ensuing. 

An  Act  for  the  Ordering  and  directing  the  Sale  and  Settlement  of  all 
the  Townships  on  the  western  Lauds. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Deputy  Governor,  Council,  and  Representatives 
in  General  Court  Assembled,  and  by  the  Authority  of  the  same,  that  all 
the  Townships  in  the  western  Lands  on  both  sides  the  Ousatunnuck 
River  be  disposed  of  and  settled,  and  that  each  Town  on  the  east  side 
of  said  River  shall  be  divided  into  fifty-three  Rights,  (exclusive  of  the 
Lands  granted  to  the  College  and  all  former  Grants  of  this  Court  that 
are  surveyed  and  recorded  in  the  public  Records  of  this  Colony  and  are 
lying  in  either  of  said  Towns,)  of  which  fifty-three  Rights  one  shall  be 
for  the  use  of  the  Ministry  forever  that  shall  be  settled  in  the  Town, 
according  to  the  Constitution  and  Order  of  the  Churches  established  by 
the  Laws  of  this  Government,  as  is  provided  in  the  first  Paragraph  in 
the  Act  entitled  an  Act  relating  to  ecclesiastical  aflfairs ;  one  for  the  first 
Gospel  Minister  as  afores^  and  one  other  right  for  the  support  of  the 
School  in  such  Town,  and  the  same  Rule  shall  be  attended  in  every  of 
said  Townships,  being  five  in  number ;  and  the  remaining  fifty  Rights 
in  said  Towns  shall  be  sold  at  a  public  Vendue  to  the  highest  bidders, 
being  of  His  Majesties  Subjects  Inhabitants  of  this  Colony,  that  will 
settle  and  inhabit  at  least  three  years  in  such  Towns,  and  to  no  other 
Persons. 

5):  *  *  *  *  * 

It  is  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid  that  any  person  quali- 
fied as  abovesaid,  and  being  desirous  to  purchase  an  Interest  in  said 
Lands  and  proposing  to  settle  the  same,  and  his  Agent  being  esteemed 
able  and  likely  to  do  and  perform  all  duties  and  orders  of  the  Place, 
shall  be  allowed  so  to  do ;  and  every  pm-chaser  shall  be  obliged  within 
three  years  next  after  their  purchase  to  build  and  finish  an  House  of 
eighteen  feet  square  and  seven  feet  studd  and  to  subdue  and  fence  at 
least  six  acres  of  land  in  such  Town,  where  he  is  a  settler  or  hath  fixed 
his  Agent,  and  no  person  shall  have  any  benefit  by  their  purchase,  but 
shall  be  liable  to  forfeit  the  same  unless  by  himself  or  his  Agent  he 
perform  all  duties,  pay  Taxes,  &c.,  as  shall  be  enjoined. 


6  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Further,  that  the  Middle  Town,  bounded  west  on  Ousatunnuck  Eiver, 
shall  in  like  manner  be  Vendued  and  Sold  at  the  Court  House  in  Fair- 
field on  the  first  Tuesday  of  February  next,  at  one  of  the  Clock  after- 
noon, and  continued  by  adjournment  as  afores*,  till  the  whole  be  sold, 
and  that  the  same  be  set  up  at  fifty  pounds  a  Right ;  and  that  John 
Burr,  Esq.,  Edmund  Lewis,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Ebenezer  Silliman,  or  any 
two  of  them,  are  appointed  a  Courte  to  sell  the  Rights,  take  bonds,  give 
Deeds  with  Defeazances  in  manner  and  form  as  hereafter  in  this  Act  shall 

be  directed. 

****** 

And  it  is  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afores*  that  the  several 
Committees  appointed  for  the  sale  of  the  said  Townships  in  the  Respec- 
tive Counties  are  hereby  authorized  and  fally  impowered,  in  the  name 
of  the  Goveruor  and  Company,  to  execute  Deeds  of  Conveyance  of  the 
several  Rights  or  parcels  of  Land  afores'^  to  the  highest  bidders,  quali- 
fied as  afores"*,  with  conditions  to  each  Deed  annexed  that  if  the  pur- 
chaser do  by  himself  or  his  Agent  enter  on  the  said  land  within  two 
years  next  after  the  purchase  of  the  Right,  and  do  liuild  and  finish  an 
House  thereon  not  less  than  eighteen  feet  square  seven  feet  studd,  and 
do  fence  and  clear  six  acres  of  land,  and  do  continue  thereon  for  the 
space  of  three  successive  years  commencing  after  the  two  years  afores*, 
(unless  prevented  by  Death  or  inevitable  Providence,)  then  the  said  deed 
to  remain  in  full  force  and  virtue,  but  on  default  or  neglect  in  either  or 
all  of  the  said  Articles  the  same  shall  be  void  and  of  none  efiect,  and 
the  several  Committees  afores"'  shall  take  Bond  obligatory  in  double  the 
sum  for  which  each  right  shall  be  respectively  sold,  on  each  respective 
purchaser  to  whom  thesame  shall  be  sold,  together  with  one  good  surety 
with  him,  payable  to  the  Treasurer  of  this  Colony  for  the  time  being 
for  the  use  of  tlie  Governor  and  Company  of  said  Colony,  within  two 
years  after  the  purchase  of  such  Right. 

SURVEY  OF  THE  TOWN  OF  CORNWALL. 

Vol.  IV,  pp.  663-665  of  Deeds. 

Ths  Governor  and  Company  of  the  English  Colony  of  Connecticut  in  New 
England  in  America  to  whom  these  Presents  shall  come. — Greeting. 

Whereas,  the  said  Governor  and  Company  assembled  at  Hartford, 
May,  Anno.  1731,  Did  Order  that  the  Western  County  Lands  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Ousatunnoc  River,  should  be  laid  out  into  Townships, 
and  appointed  Messrs.  Edmond  Lewis,  William  Judd,  and  John  Buel  a 
Committee  to  lay  out  the  same;  and  whereas,  in  Pursuance  of  said 
Order,  the  said  Committee  laid  out  the  same  into  Two  Townships,  one 
of  which  in  this  survey  is  called  the  township  of  B,  now  called  Corn- 
wall, bounded  as  followeth  :  Running  from  the  southwest  corner  bounds 
of  A,  now  called  Goshen,  West,  ninety-two  Degrees,  North,  five  miles 
and  Seventy-two  Rods  to  the  Ousatunnoc  River,  where  is  marked  a  wliite 
Oak  tree,  and  set  the  letters,  E.  L.  W.  J.  J.  B.,  on  said  tree,  and  laid 
many  stones  to  it  for  a  monument,  at  the  Southwest  Corner  of  the 
Townsliip  of  B.  Then  beginning  at  the  White  Oak  Pole  at  the  North- 
west corner  of  the  Township  ol"  A,  and  run  west  ninety-two  Degrees 
north,  four  miles  and  a  half  to  the  Ousatunnoc  River,  and  made  a  monu- 
ment for  the  Northwest  corner  of  the  Township  of  B,  and  the  South- 
west corner  of  the  Township  of  C,  now  called  Canaan,  it  being  Three 
Black  Oak  trees  growing  from  one  root  marked,  and  many  stones  laid 
to  them  with  the  letters  E.  L.  W.  J.  J.  B.,  set  on  them,  thus  the  Town- 


SURVEY    OF    CORNWALL.  I 

ship  of  B  is  surveyed  and  laid  out,  and  the  lines  thereof  are  set  forth  by 
marked  Trees  and  monuments  and  is  bounded  south  on  the  Township 
of  E,  now  called  Kent,  north  on  the  town  of  C,  east  on  the  Township 
of  A,  and  west  on  the  Ousatunnoc  River.     And — 

Whereas,  Said  Governor  and  Company  in  General  Court  Assembled 
at  New  Haven  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1737,  by  their  act  did  order  that 
the  said  Township  should  be  divided  into  fifty-three  rights  exclusive  of 
all  former  Grants  of  the  General  Court,  that  was  thus  surveyed  and  re- 
corded in  the  Publick  Records  of  this  Colony  and  lying  in  said  town- 
ship, of  which  fifty-three  rights  one  should  be  for  the  use  of  the  minis- 
try that  should  be  settled  in  said  town  according  to  the  regulation  in 
said  act.  Provided,  one  for  the  first  Gospel  minister  settled  as  aforesaid 
and  one  other  Right  for  the  support  of  the  school  in  said  Town  ;  and 
ordered  that  fifty  of  said  rights  should  be  sold  and  that  the  other  three 
rights  should  be  for  the  uses  aforesaid,  and  that  the  (Jommittee  by  said 
Act  appointed  should  sell  and  in  the  name  of  the  Governor  and  com- 
pany aforesaid  execute  deeds  of  conveyance  of  the  said  several  rights 
to  the  purchasers  thereof  respectively  with  conditions  to  each  deed 
answered  according  to  the  directions  in  said  contained  ;    and 

Whereas,  in  Pursuance  of  and  according  to  said  Act  the  said  Com- 
mittee have  sold  and  by  their  several  deeds  under  their  hands  and  seals 
have  granted  unto  George  Holloway,  Jonathan  Squires,  Samuel  Robards, 
Stephen  Burrows,  John  SJierwood,  Joseph  Allin,  James  Dennill,  Daniel 
Harris,  James  Smedley  and  to  the  rest  of  the  original  purchasers  of 
Rights  or  fifty-third  parts  of  said  Township  upon  conditions  as  afore- 
said, which  Township  is  now  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  Corn- 
wall; and  whereas  Mr.  Solomon  Palmer  is  settled  in  the  ministry  in  said 
Town  according  to  the  direction  aforesaid,  and  the  several  purchasers 
aforesaid,  their  heirs  or  assigns,  having  performed  the  conditions  in  the 
said  deeds  expressed,  and  now  moving  for  a  more  full  confirmation  of 
the  land  sold  and  granted  them  as  aforesaid.  Know  ye,  that  the  said 
Governor  and  Company  by  virtue  of  the  Power  and  authority,  granted 
unto  them  by  our  Lawful  Sovereign  King  Charles,  the  Second,  of  Blessed 
memory  in  and  by  his  letters  Pattent  under  the  Great  Seal  of  England, 
bearing  date  the  23rd  day  of  April,  in  the  14th  year  of  his  Magisties 
Reign,  Have  given  and  granted,  and  by  these  Presents  for  themselves 
and  their  successors. 

Do  give,  grant,  I'atify,  and  confirm  unto  them  the  said  George  Hollo- 
way,  Jonathan  Squires,  Samuel  Robards,  Stephen  Burrows,  John  Sher- 
wood, Joseph  Allin,  James  Donnill,  Daniel  Harris,  James  Smedley,  and 
to  the  said  Mr.  Solomon  Palmer,  who  is  their  settled  minister  in  said 
Town,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  original  Purcliasers,  or  their  respective 
Heu"s  or  assigns,  or  Legal  Representatives  of  such  Original  Purchasers, 
to  whom  such  Original  Deeds  were  made  and  executed,  all  the  aforesaid 
Township  of  B.  now  called  Cornwall,  within  the  bounds  and  limits 
described  by  the  survey  aforesaid  to  be  the  bounds  of  said  Township  of 
B.,  exclusive  of  former  grants  surveyed  and  recorded  in  the  Publick 
Records  aforesaid  Forever  as  College  Lands.  Together  with  all  and 
singular  the  woods,  timber,  trees,  undei'woods.  Lands,  water,  Brooks, 
Ponds,  Fishings,  Fowlings,  Mines,  minerals,  and  Precious  Stones  within 
and  upon  the  said  Tract  of  Land  and  Township  aforesaid  hereby 
granted,  mentioned,  or  intended  to  be  granted  as  aforesaid,  and  all  and 
singular  the  rights,  Profits,  Privileges,  and  appurtenances  whatsoever  of 
and  within  the  said  townsliip  and  every  part  thereof  to  have  and  to 
hold  the  above  said  tract  contained  in  the  Township  of  Cornwall  afore- 
said with   the  appurtenances  unto   them  tlie  said    George   Holloway, 


8  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Jonathan  Squires,  Samuel  Robards,  Stephen  Burrows,  John  Sherwood, 
Joseph  AUin,  James  Dennill,  Daniel  Harris,  James  Smedley,  and  to  the 
said  Mr.  Solomon  Palmer,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  original  purchasers, 
their  heirs  and  assigns,  or  Legal  representatives  of  such  Original  Pur- 
chasers to  whom  such  rights  do  belong,  and  to  their  only  proper  use, 
benefit,  and  behoof,  Forever,  as  a  good,  sure,  absolute,  and  indefeasable 
estate  of  inheritances  in  fee  simple  without  any  condition.  Limitations, 
use,  or  other  things  to  alter  and  make  void  the  same  to  be  holders  of 
his  Majestie,  his  Heirs  or  successors,  as  of  his  Majesties  Manor  of  East 
Greenwich  in  the  county  of  Kent  and  kingdom  of  Great  Britain  in  free 
and  common.  Socage  and  not  in  Capite  nor  by  Knights'  service  yield- 
ing and  paying  therefor  unto  our  soverign  Lord  the  King,  his  Heirs  and 
successors  forever,  only  one  fifth  Part  of  all  the  ores  of  Gold  and  Silver 
which  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter  shall  be  gotten,  had, 
or  obtained,  then,  or  in  Lieu  of  all  services,  duties,  and  demands  what- 
soever. In  witness  whereof  we,  the  said  Governor  and  Company  have 
caused  the  seal  of  said  Colony  to  be  hereunto  aflixed  the  25tli  day  of 
May,  in  the  21st  year  of  the  Reign  of  our  Soverign  Lord  George  the 
Second  by  the  Grace  of  God  of  Great  Britain,  &c.,  King,  Anno  Dom, 
1748. 

JONATHAN  LAW,  Governor. 

By  order  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  English  Colony  of  Con- 
necticut in  New  England  in  America,  assembled  in  General  Com't, 
May,  1748.  Signed, 

GEORGE  WYLLYS,  Secreta/ry. 

Received,  May,  1748,  and  then  recorded. 

Test,— 

The  township  of  Cornwall,  containing  about  thirty  thousand 
acres,  lies  in  Litchfield  county,  near  the  northwestern  corner  of 
the  State. 

The  township  was  sold  at  public  auction  by  a  committee  of  the 
General  Assembly;  said  committee  were  John  Burr,  Edmund 
Lewis,  and  Ebenezer  Silliman,  Esqrs.,  at  Fairfield,  February  8, 
1738.  The  State  had  previously  given  three  hundred  acres,  lying 
in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  town,  to  Yale  College.  There  were 
fifty  rights  or  equal  shares  sold,  and  three  other  shares  were 
reserved,  one  for  the  first  minister;  one  for  the  support  of  the 
gospel  ministry,  as  a  perpetual  fund  ;  and  one  for  the  support  of 
schools. 

The  length  of  the  town  is  nearly  ten  miles,  and  the  average 
breadth  short  of  six  miles.  Its  length  on  the  Housatonic  is 
greater  than  at  the  Goshen  boundary.  No  right  was  sold  for  less 
than  $99,  or  for  more  than  $112.  The  average  price  per  acre 
was  not  over  twenty  cents. 

On  the  14th  of  November,  1738,  at  a  meeting  of  the  proprie- 
tors held  at  Litchfield,  Samuel  Messenger  was  appointed  surveyor 
of  the  lands  of  Cornwall. 


PROPRIETORS     FIRST    MEETING.  9 

Previous  to  the  year  1738,  there  is  no  evidence  that  Cornwall 
contained  any  white  inhabitant.  The  entire  surface  of  the  town 
at  that  period  was  covered  with  dense  woods,  composed  of  large 
trees  and  a  thick  growth  of  underbrush.  The  first  inhabitant  of 
the  town,  named  in  the  records,  was  Peter  Eastman  ;  where  his 
house  was,  the  record  does  not  state.  But  it  was  at  his  house  that 
the  first  proprietors'  meeting  was  held  in  the  town. 

One  of  the  conditions  required  by  the  proprietors  of  Cornwall 
was,  that  the  owner  of  each  right  should  erect  a  house  sixteen 
feet  square  and  seven  feet  in  the  clear,  and  occupy  the  same  for 
three  years,  except  in  case  of  death  of  the  owner.  These  were 
built  of  logs. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  proprietors  of  Cornwall  was  held  at 
Hartford,  in  the  state  house,  on  the  6th  day  of  September,  A.D. 
1738.  Mr.  John  Hall  of  Fairfield  was  chosen  moderator,  and 
Timothy  Collins  of  Litchfield,  clerk  of  said  meeting.  He  was 
sworn  into  office  as  proprietors'  clerk,  before  Capt.  Samuel  Chap- 
man, a  justice  of  the  peace.  The  meeting  was  adjourned  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Ebenezer  Williamson  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
where  the  proprietors  met  according  to  adjournment. 

At  that  meeting  they  voted  to  lay  out  fifty  acres  of  land  to 
each  proprietor.  Messrs.  Benajah  Douglass,  Joseph  Waller,  Joseph 
Kilborn,  Joseph  Allen,  and  Samuel  Roberts  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  lay  out  said  lots,  also  to  lay  out  the  highways  in  Corn- 
wall. Each  proprietor  was  to  be  at  the  cost  of  the  survey  of  his 
piece  of  land,  and  in  making  the  survey  bill. 

At  the  same  meeting,  it  was  voted  to  divide  off  another  fifty 
acres  to  each  proprietor  by  the  same  committee. 

Ten  shillings  per  day  was  voted  to  each  of  said  committee  from 
the  time  they  set  out  from  Litchfield,  they  boarding  themselves. 
At  this  meeting,  it  was  voted  to  give  to  Mr.  Benajah  Douglass 
£  12  10  shillings  for  warning  the  same.  The  privilege  was  granted 
to  Mr.  Timothy  Collins,  and  such  partners  as  he  should  take  with 
him,  of  the  exclusive  right  to  any  streams  on  undivided  lands 
for  mill  or  mills,  provided  that  he  shall  set  up  a  saw  mill  by  the 
1st  of  November,  1739,  and  he  was  to  have  the  privilege  so  long 
as  he  kept  a  saw-mill  upon  the  stream  in  good  repair. 

This  first  meeting  was  adjourned  to  the  house  of  Ensign  Eben- 
ezer Marsh,  in  Litchfield,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  the  following 
November,  at  9  a.  m. 

At  this  adjourned  meeting,  a  tax  of  26  shillings  was  levied  on 
2 


10  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

eacii  proprietor,  to  defray  expenses  of  laying  out;  for  the  collec- 
tion of  which  tax,  Joseph  Allen  was  appointed.  The  lots  were 
laid  out  and  numbered  ;  they  were  then  divided  by  drawing  lor 
them  in  the  way  of  a  lottery.  Permission  was  granted  that  such 
as  were  dissatisfied  with  their  lots,  could  change  them  before  the 
next  meeting  of  the  proprietors,  by  paying  the  expense  of  the 
survey.  Messrs.  Osborn,  Joseph  Kilborn,  and  Daniel  Allen  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  make  out  the  rate  bill  on  the  proprietors 
for  the  tax  of  26  shilhngs,  before  named. 

The  highways  were  to  be  six  rods  wide  (many  of  which, 
although  they  may  be  as  long  in  our  day  as  our  fathers  made 
them,  have  shrunk  wonderfully  in  breadth). 

At  this  meeting,  it  was  voted  to  lay  out  a  highway  from  Litch- 
field to  Cornwall,  also  from  Kent  to  Cornwall.  Mr.  Messenger 
was  empowered  to  expend  £25  in  surveying  and  opening  said 
highways,  and  Messrs,  Waller,  John  Dibble,  John  Hall,  Samuel 
Messenger,  Daniel  Allen,  and  Joseph  Allen,  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  lay  out  and  clear  up  highways  from  Litchfield  and 
Kent,  as  far  as  they  could  for  the  £25.  One  half  of  said  sum  to 
be  expended  on  each  highway. 

This  meeting  was  adjourned  to  the  third  Wednesday  of  Sept., 
1739,  at  12  o'clock,  at  the  house  of  Peter  Eastman  in  Cornwall. 

These  meetings  of  the  Proprietors  were  adjourned  from  time  to 
time  and  a  division  to  the  amount  of  three  himdred  acres  set  to 
each.  The  one  who  drew  by  lot  the  first  choice  was  required  to 
take  the  last  in  the  following  division ;  this  plan  was  adopted  to 
equalize  the  division  of  property  in  which  all  were  equally  inter- 
ested. 

The  names  of  those  who  drew  in  the  first  and  second  divisions 
were 

Nathan  Lyon,  Joseph  Frost, 

Stephen  Burr,  Andrus  Truby, 

Jonathan  Squires,  Gideon  Allen, 

J.  Sherwood,  Stephen  Boroughs, 

James  Smedley,  John  Dibble, 

James  Dennie,*  Wm.  Gaylord, 

Eeuben  Dibble,  Samuel  Roberts, 

Nathaniel  Spaulding,  Tim.  Pierce, 

Samuel  Bryant,  Ebenezer  Seely, 

*  Spelled  in  different  records  Dennil,  Dennis,  Donnil. 


RELIGION    AND    EDUCATION.  1  1 

Benajah  Douglass,  Jacob  Patclien, 

Samuel  Hall,  Elizur  Seely, 

Peter  Eastman,  Benjamin  Osborn,  • 

Thomas  Harris,  Isaac  Bissel, 

Joseph  Kilborn,  Samuel  Smedly, 

Samuel  Kilborn,  Ephraim  Smedly, 

Timothy  Collins,  Joseph  Waller, 

Joseph  Allen,  Ebenezer  Whitlesey, 

Daniel  Allen,  Samuel  Butler, 

Ehphalet  Seely,  Thomas  Ballard. 

Ten  of  the  above  had  two  rights  each,  and  one  three. 

Previous  to  the  allotment  of  any  of  these  proprietors'  rights,  a 
division  of  three  hundred  acres  was  set  apart  and  located  for  each 
of  the  three  important  objects,  viz.  :  first,  for  a  parsonage,  second, 
for  the  support  of  a  minister,  third,  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  schools. 

If  we  had  no  other  evidence  that  these  our  fathers  who  were 
the  early  settlers  of  Cornwall  were  of  Puritan  origin  than  the 
adoption  of  such  measures  for  the  promotion  of  education  and 
religion,  the  proof  is  well  established. 

These  three  divisions  set  apart  for  such  important  objects  were 
called  "public  rights."  How  expressive  the  term,  embracing  all  the 
great  interests  of  society  ?  Even  civil  liberty  so  highly  prized 
has  a  secure  basis  only  in  the  maintenance  of  education  and  relig- 
ion. These  measures  were  adopted  even  before  the  town  had  been 
incorporated. 

At  a  Proprietors  Meeting  held  on  the  8th  day  of  May,  1740,  Mr. 
Joseph  Allen  was  chosen  Moderator.  This  meeting  Voted  To  peti- 
tion the  Assembly  for  town  privileges  and  hberty  to  settle  an  ortho- 
dox Gospel  Minister,  also  to  grant  a  tax  of  four  pence  per  acre  on 
each  of  the  three  hundred  Acres  laid  out  to  each  proprietor  to 
defray  the  charge  of  settling  and  maintaining  a  minister  and  build- 
ing a  meeting  house  in  the  town,  and  that  said  tax  continue  for 
the  space  of  three  years,  the  first  of  said  tax  to  be  paid  upon  the 
1st  of  August  following.  Also  voted  To  pray  the  General  Assembly 
to  extend  the  time  for  the  payment  of  the  several  rights;  lawful 
interest  to  be  paid  for  the  same.  Mr.  George  Holloway  was 
chosen  agent  on  the  part  of  the  township  to  attend  the  Assembly 
to  obtain  the  object  of  their  petition  and  everything  else  which 
Mr.   Fitch,  ^who  had  been  appointed  at  a  previous  meeting  as  a 


12  HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL. 

member  of  a  committee,  for  various  duties,  shall  think  proper  to 
pray  for. 

•  It  was  also  voted  at  this  meeting  empowering  the  Committee  pre- 
viously chosen  to  lay  out  the  Mill  Brook  land,  to  lay  out  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Pond  at  the  foot  of  Cream  Hill  what  they  shall 
judge  proper  for  draining  and  damming  said  pond  as  a  further 
encouragement  of  building  mills  upon  the  stream  that  comes  out 
of  said  Pond.  Voted,  To  sequester  30  acres  of  land  on  Mill 
Brook  to  encourage  building  a  Mill  or  mills  on  said  stream  to  be 
laid  out  by  the  Committee  formerly  appointed  to  lay  out  the  Mill 
land. 

This  privilege  of  the  Cream  Hill  Mill  stream  together  with  the 
sequestered  land  was  given  to  Mr.  Mathew  Millard  with  liberty  of 
damming  and  draining  the  pond  and  stream  flowing  out  of  it,  he 
to  build  and  maintain  a  good  Corn  Mill  upon  said  stream  by  the 
1st  of  August,  1741,  also  a  good  saw-mill  by  the  same  time. 

Mr.  George  Holloway  was  chosen  Clerk  in  the  place  of  Timothy 
Collins. 

According  to  their  requests  immediately  an  act  of  incorporation 
with  town  privileges  was  granted  by  the  General  Assembly.  This 
was  done  in  May,  1740.  Mr.  George  Holloway  was  appointed  to 
call  the  first  town  meeting. 

Up  to  the  year  1740,  there  probably  were  no  other  than  log 
houses  in  this  town.  About  forty  of  these  rude  tenements  were 
erected,  usually  upon  the  owner's  land,  and  of  course  scattered 
very  widely  over  the  different  parts  of  the  town.  The  occupants 
of  the  dwellings  we  are  enabled  to  learn,  to  a  general  extent,  from 
tradition.  Samuel  Abbott,  who  was  from  Danbury  (1792),  lived 
near  the  place  formerly  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Birdsey, 
now  owned  by  Rogers  White.  (William  Stratman,  1877.)  Dan- 
iel and  Joseph  Allen,  from  Litchfield  (1740);  one  lived  opposite 
the  house  of  Col.  Anson  Rogers,  and  the  other  on  the  Joel  Catlin 
farm.  (Harvey  Baldwin,  1877.)  Eleazer  Barritt,  from  Plainfield. 
lived  near  Pangmans  by  Housatonic  River.  David  Baldwin,  from 
Litchfield,  lived  on  Great  Hill.  John  Blinn  lived  south  of  the 
Cotter  place,  near  the  Housatonic  River.  Thomas  Ballard,  from 
Plainfield,  lived  opposite  Noah  Rogers.  John  Clothier  lived  near 
Cotters  (Shepard,  1877),  at  West  Cornwall.  John  Dibble,  from 
Stamford,  lived  a  little  west  of  the  Capt.  Miles  place,  now  Edward 
Kellogg's.  (A.  Bennett,  1877.)  James  Douglass,  from  Plainfield, 
settled  on  Cream  Hill.     His  log-house  was  located  a  few  rods  north- 


ORIGINAL    SETTLERS.  13 

easterly  from  the  late  residence  of  Capt.  Hezekiah  Gold,  which 
house  he  afterwards  built  about  the  year  1750,  making  this  prob- 
ably the  oldest  house  in  town  now  standing  and  still  occupied. 
Reuben  Dean  was  a  celebrated  hunter  and  doctor.  He  lived  near 
Chandler  Swifts.  (Ira  Frink,  1877.)  He  was  from  Norwalk. 
Woodruff  Emmons  came  from  Litchfield.  He  lived  where  Dr. 
Joseph  North  lately  resided — north  of  the  residence  of  the  late  Car- 
rington  Todd.  Nathaniel  Green  lived  near  the  orchard  of  Capt. 
Miles,  north  of  the  ancient  burying  ground.  He  was  from  Stam- 
ford. Thomas  Griffis,  from  Litchfield.  He  lived  on  Dudley  Town 
Hill,  near  the  residence  of  the  late  Caleb  Jones.  John  and  George 
Halloway,  were  from  Middlebury,  or  Pembroke,  Mass.  They  lived 
where  Mrs.  Ithamer  Baldwin  now  resides.  George  died  in  1750. 
He  built  the  house  used  as  a  tavern  in  1776,  kept  by  Woodruff 
Emmons.  Benjamin  Hough,  from  New  Milford,  settled  in  the 
northwest  part  of  the  town.  Thomas  Hari-is  was  from  Plainfield. 
He  Uved  where  the  late  Capt.  Elias  Hart  resided.  (Geo.  Potter, 
1877.)  Moses  Harris,  from  Plainfield,  lived  near  the  late  Capt. 
Clarke's.  (William  Bennett,  1877.)  Nathaniel  Jewell,  from  Plain- 
field.  He  lived  near  the  present  residence  of  Mr.  Fowler  Brad- 
ford. Joshua  Jewell,  from  the  same  place,  lived  on  the  present 
Maj.  Pierce's  farm.  David  Jewell,  also  from  Plainfield,  lived  near 
the  present  residence  of  Wm.  Hindman,  Esq.  (Tyler  Miner, 
1877.)  Stephen  Lee,  from  Litchfield,  lived  on  Great  Hill.  Mat- 
thew Millard,  from  East  Haddam,  lived  opposite  the  residence  of 
the  late  Oliver  Burnham,  Esq.  Samuel  Messenger,  from  Harwin- 
ton,  lived  near  the  center  of  town,  now  Mr.  Johnson's.  James 
Packett,  from  Danbury,  lived  in  Great  Hollow.  Timothy  Pang- 
born,  from  Stamford,  lived  a  little  north  of  Mr.  Luther  Emmons' 
place.  Benoni  Palmeter  lived  near  the  Baptist  meeting  house. 
(Elias  Scoville,  1877.)  Thomas  Tanner,  from  Litchfield,  lived  on 
the  hill  east  of  the  late  residence  of  the  Hon.  0.  Burnham.  He 
was  grandfather  of  Tryal  Tanner.  Ebenezer  Tyler  Uved  in  Corn- 
wall Hollow,  on  the  Samuel  Johnson  place.  Jonathan  Squires, 
from  Plainfield,  lived  south  of  the  residence  of  the  late  Riley  M. 
Rexford.  Reuben  Squires,  also  from  Plainfield,  lived  near  the 
late  Capt.  Joel  Wright's.  (T.  Wilson,  1877.)  Phineas  WaUer 
lived  near  the  late  residence  of  Deacon  Samuel  Adams  (Judson 
Adams,  1877). 

These  are  all  the  residences  of  the  first  settlers  of  Cornwall,  on 
the  list  of  1740,  that  are  well  authenticated. 


14  HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL. 

In  1744,  we  find  additional  settlers. 
Samuel  Benedict,  from  Danbury,  lived  opposite  K.  Birdseys'. 
Benjamin  Dibble,  from  Stamford,  near  Seth  Dibble's  farm. 
William  Joyner,  near  R.  M.  Rexford's  on  Cream  Hill. 
Amos  Johnson,  from  Branford,   near  the  late  residence  of  Earl 

Johnson. 
Thomas  Orton,  from  Litchfield,  lived  near  the  Sedgwick  farm. 
Joseph  Pangborn,  from  Stamford,  lived  near  Hart's  Bridge,  south 

of  the  mill.  West  Cornwall. 
Samuel  Robards,  from  Colchester,  lived  thirty  rods  east  of  Benja- 
min Catlin's.     (Niles  Scoville,  1877.) 
Patrick    Hindman,    a   foreigner,    settled   near   John   Hindman's. 

(Tyler  Miner,  1877.) 
Abraham  Raymond,  from  Norwalk. 
Joseph  Peck  lived  where  Stiles  Peck  last  lived. 
In  1748,  Jonathan  Hurlburt,  east  of  Sedgwick's. 
Jacob  Bronson,   from    Norwalk,  near  the  late  Wm.   Stoddard's. 

(Peter  Fritz,  1877.) 
Israel  Moss  hved  where  Ezra  Taylor  hves:  was  a  merchant. 

The  list  for  1742  is  the  oldest  extant,  and  a  complete  copy  is 
here  given.  It  is  written  on  a  single  sheet  of  foolscap  paper — hav- 
ing on  one  page  C,  I,  K,  E,  F,  D,  R,  in  water  Hnes,  and  on  the 
other,  a  large  shield,  the  design  on  which  is  not  very  plain.  Whole 
No.  of  Polls,  52;  horses,  43;  cows,  52;  oxen,  41;  young  cattle,  9; 
swine,  21. 

A    General  List  made  on  Polls  and  other  Rateable  Estate   in  Corn- 
wall, in  the  year  of  our  Lord  174^. 

A. — Sam'  Abbott,  one  head,  18;  two  cows,  6;  2  3-year  olds,  6; 
one  mare,  3;  one  swine,  1. — 34. 

Dan' Allen,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  two  cows,  two  horses, 
12;  one  2 -years  old  steer,  2;  one  yearling  heifer,  1;  five  swine, 
5.-46. 

Joseph  Allen,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  two  cows,  two  horses, 
12;  one  swine,  1. — 39. 

B. — Elea""  Barrett,  one  head,  18;  one  mare,  two  cows,  9. — 27. 

Benj°  Bissell,  one  head,  18;  one  cow,  3. — 21. 

David  Baldwin,  one  head,  18;  one  cow,  one  horse,  6. — 24. 

John  Blinn,  one  head. — 18. 

Tho"  Ballard,  one  head,  one  horse,  one  cow. — 24. 


A    GENERAL    LIST.  16 

C. — John  Clothier,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  two  horses,  6; 
two  cows,  6. — 38. 

W".  Chittester,  one  head,  18;  two  horses,  one  cow,  9. — 27. 

D. — John  Dibbell,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  two  cows,  one 
horse,  9;  one  yearling,  one  swine,  2. — 37. 

Benj°  Dibbell,  one  head,  18;  a  house  lot,  3;  one  cow,  one  horse, 
6;  one  yearling  colt,  1;  one  swine,  2. — 30. 

James  Douglass,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  two  cows,  6;  one 
horse,  3. — 35. 

Reuben  Dean,  two  heads,  36;  two  oxen,  8;  three  cows,  9;  three 
horses,  9.-62. 

E. — Woodruff  Emmons,  one  head,  18. 

F. — David  Frisbie,  one  head,  18. 

G. — Nath'  Green,  two  polls,  36;  one  ox,  4;  one  horse,  3. — 43. 

Thos.  GriflBs,  two  heads,  36;  two  oxen,  8;  two  cows,  two  horses, 
12.— 56. 

H. — George  Holloway,  one  head,  18;  five  oxen,  20;  two  cows, 
6;  one  horse,  3. — 47. 

John  Holloway,  one  head,  18. 

Benja"  Hough,  one  head,  18;  two  horses,  one  cow,  9;  one  swine, 
1.— 28. 

Thorn.  Harris,  two  heads,  36;  two  cows,  6;  one  horse,  3. — 45. 

Moses  Harris,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  one  cow,  three  swine, 
6.-32. 

Samuell  Horsford,  one  head,  18. 

J. — Nath'.  Jewell,  one  head,  16;  one  mare,  one  cow,  6. — 24. 

Joshua  Jewell,  two  heads,  36;  two  oxen,  8;  three  cows,  9;  two 
horses,  6;  one  swine,  1. — 60. 

David  Jewell,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  one  cow,  one  horse, 
6.-32. 

L. — Rich*^  Love  joy,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  two  cows,  6; 
one  horse,  3. — 35. 

Stephen  Lee,  one  head,  18;  one  horse,  3. — 21  =  557. 

M. — Math"^  Millard,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  three  cows,  9; 
horse,  3.-38. 

Sam'  Messinger,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  two  cows,  6;  one 
one  horse,  3;  one  2-years  old,  2;  three  swine,  3. — 40. 

Peter  Mallory,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  one  cow,  two  horses, 
9;  one  swine,  1. — 36. 

N. 

0. 


16  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

P. — James  Pickett,  one  head,  18;  two  horses,  one  cow,  9. — 27. 
Tim^  Pangborn,  one  head,   18;  one  horse,  3;  one  cow,  3;  two 
yearlings,  2. — 26. 

Benoni  Palmeter,  one  head,  18. 

Q. 

R. — Sam^  Robards,  one  head,  18;  one  cow,  3;  one  mare,  3. — 24. 

T. — Tho^  Tanner,  one  head,  18;  a  yoak  of  oxen,  8;  two  cows, 
3;  one  horse,  3. — 42. 

Wm.  Tanner,  one  head,  18. 

Eben""  Tyler,  one  head,  18. 

U. 

S. — Jonath"  Squier,  three  heads,  54;  two  oxen,  8;  two  horses, 
6;  one  cow,  3;  one  swine,  1. — 72. 

Reuben  Squier,  one  head,  18;  two  oxen,  8;  one  horse,  3. — 29. 

William  Smiley,  one  head,  18=406. 

W. — Phin^  Walker,  one  head,  18;  one  ox,  4;  one  horse,  3. — 25. 

John  Young,  one  head,  18;  one  cow,  3. — 21. 

The  sum  of  the  several  footings,  -  -  -         46 

406 
557 
424 


1433 


The  sum  totall  of  this  list  made  by  us, 

JONATHAN  SQUIER, 
NATH'^^  GREEN,  )■  Listers. 

SAMi'  MESSINGER, 

In  1745  there  were  in  the  list  two  less  than  in  1742,  and  three 
less  than  in  1744. 

In  1748  there  were  seventy  persons  in  the  list,  and  the  property 
amounted  to  £3,054  18s.  Jonathan  Squire  had  the  largest  list  of 
any  one  in  town,  being  £109  \Ss.  Matthew  Millard  stood  next, 
being  £99  2s.  John  Dibble  was  next,  £93.  Next  was  Thomas 
Orton,  £79  145.  Next  was  Joshua  Jewell,  £77.  The  next  was 
James  Douglass,  £68.     Several  were  as  low  as  five  pounds. 

SURFACE    OF    THE    TOWNSHIP,    HILLS,    VALLEYS,    LAKES,    AND     STREAMS. 

In  the  northwest  part  of  the  town  is  a  high  hill  called  Hough 
Mountain,  from  Mr.  Hough,  who  settled  in  that  vicinity.  Follow- 
ing the  Housatonic  River  south,  a  valley  is  crossed,  through  which 
runs  a  small  trout  brook,  when  we  come  to  another  hill,  called 


SURFACE    OF    THE    TOWNSHIP.  17 

Rugij  Hill,  named  after  a  man  by  the  name  of  Daniel  Rugg,  who 
built  a  house  there,  and  occupied  it  for  a  few  months. 

Going  south  from  Rugg  Hill  across  a  small  stream,  we  find 
Waller  Hill,  at  the  foot  of  which  lived  Deacon  Waller,  near  the 
place  of  Mr.  Judson  Adams.  About  half  a  mile  south  from  his 
house  we  find  another  large  hill,  properly  called  Tower  Dale.  This 
noble  name,  thus  written  by  the  early  settlers,  has  degenerated,  in 
common  speech,  into  the  insignificant  title  of  Tarry  diddle.  Its 
north  and  western  side  is  precipitous  and  mostly  wooded,  while  its 
eastern  and  southern  slope  is  nice  farming  land.  Going  in  the 
same  direction,  but  a  little  farther  removed  from  the  river,  we  find 
Buck  Mduntain,  so  called  from  the  great  number  of  deer  that  used 
to  be  found  there.  The  northeastern  part  of  this  elevation  is 
terminated  by  a  conical  and  steep  hill  known  by  the  name  of  Tlie 
Cobble. 

The  first  hill  below  West  Cornwall,  and  nearer  the  river,  was 
called  Green  Mountain  before  it  became  denuded  of  its  pines  and 
hemlocks,  whicli  in  early  times  covered  it  densely.  Then  next 
south  and  easterly  lies  a  long  and  high  hill  called  Mine  Mountain, 
from  the  minerals  it  was  supposed  to  contain.  Cream  Hill,  lying  in 
the  north-middle  part  of  the  town,  received  this  appellation  from 
the  superiority  of  its  soil  and  beauty  of  scenery,  A  pretty  lake 
lies  at  its  foot,  and  in  fair  view  from  its  southern  aspect,  called 
Cream  Hill  Lake.  North  from  this  lake  is  a  high  range  called 
Pond  Hill.  East  of  this  is  the  Great  Hollow  extending  over  four 
miles,  nearly  north  and  south,  called,  in  the  northern  part,  Sedg- 
wick Hollow,  and  Johnson  Hollow  in  the  southern.  A  high  and 
steep  mountain  range  lies  at  the  northwest  of  Sedgwick  Hollow, 
called  Titus  Mountain,  and  was  so  named  from  a  young  man  of 
that  name  who,  with  others,  was  amusing  himself  in  rolling  rocks 
down  the  steep  side  of  the  mountain,  and  who  had  the  misfortune 
to  break  his  thigh. 

South  of  Cream  Hill  rises  an  isolated  hill  of  no  great  height, 
but  rough  and  uncomely,  to  which  is  given  the  name  of  Rattlesnake 
Hill.  I  set  down  here  the  tradition  of  fifty  rattlesnakes  killed  at 
one  time  on  this  hill,  lest  the  story  grow  larger  and  tax  our  credu- 
lity too  much  as  to  the  origin  of  the  name.  This  raid  was  too 
much  for  the  snakes,  as  none  have  been  found  there  in  the  period 
of  authentic  history. 

That  such  vermin  were  not  unknown  to  the  early  settlers,  the 
3 


18  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

following  resolution  adopted  at  a  town  meeting  held  Dec.  17,  1745, 
will  show: 

Voted,  That  two  shillings  should  be  given  for  each  rattlesnake  tail 
that  shall  be  killed  within  the  bounds  of  tliis  town,  by  any  of  the  in- 
habitants of  it,  from  this  time  to  the  fifth  of  June,  to  such  persons  as 
shall  bring  said  tails  and  rattles  to  either  of  the  selectmen  of  this  town 

The  hill  up  which  the  road  from  Cornwall  to  Goshen  winds  is 
named  Bunker  Hill,  from  the  residence  on  it  of  Rufus  Bunker,  an 
Indian  of  the  Schaticoke  tribe  ;  an  old  and  honest  man  whose 
name  is  associated  with  a  more  enduring  monument  than  the  pyra- 
mids of  Egypt.  North  and  easterly  of  this  hill  is  situated  Red 
Mountain,  so  named  from  the  color  of  the  oak-leaves  in  the  autumn 
when  touched  by  the  frosts.  Southerly  is  Clark  Hill,  so  called 
from  a  family  of  that  name  who  removed  nearly  one  hundred  years 
since  from  Hartford  to  that  locality.  Southeasterly  from  Clark 
Hill  is  the  most  elevated  land  in  the  State,  lying  mostly  in  Goshen, 
from  the  apex  of  which  is  a  view  of  Long  Island  Sound.  This 
elevation  is  called  Mohawk  Mountain.  Southeast  of  Cornwall 
Plain,  forming  a  part  of  the  same  range  as  Clark  Hill  and  Mohawk 
Mountain,  lies  Great  Hill.  Three  hundred  acres  of  land  given  by 
the  General  Assembly  to  Yale  College,  is  located  here,  and  goes 
by  the  name  of  College  land.  Bloody  Mountain.,  so  named  from  a 
bloody  tragedy  not  enacted  there,  lies  north  of  the  Old  Goshen  and 
Sharon  turnpike,  northwest  from  the  center  of  the  town. 

In  the  southeast  part  of  Cornwall  is  a  high  range  called  Wood- 
bury Mountain.  West  of  this,  and  separated  from  it  by  a  deep 
gorge,  is  Dudley  Town  Hill,  so  called  from  a  family  of  that  name 
among  its  early  settlers,  late  the  residence  of  Caleb  Jones.  North 
of  this  elevated  neighborhood  is  CoWs-foot  Mountain,  which  rises 
boldly  from  the  beautiful  valley,  formerly  called  Pine  street,  then 
the  Plain,  where  is  the  pleasant  village  of  Cornwall. 

From  the  summits  of  many  of  these  hills  extensive  and  mag- 
nificent views  are  presented,  extending  west  of  the  Hudson  River 
and  over  a  large  share  of  Berkshire  County,  in  Massachusetts. 
There  are  many  other  minor  hills  the  beauty  and  picturesque 
appearance  of  which,  to  be  fully  appreciated,  must  be  seen. 

Cream  Hill  Lake,  in  the  north  part  of  the  town,  and  Mohawk  Pond 
in  the  southeast,  and  the  Housatonic  River — River  of  the  Moun- 
tains— forming  the  western  boundary,  give  life  and  character  to 
the  scenery,  which  is  never  perfect  without  water  views.  Small 
streams  are  numerous,  the  most  important  of  which  are  the  North 


NATURAL    CONDITION    OF    CORNWALL.  19 

Mill  Brook,  having  ifs  source  in  Cream  Hill  Lake,  and  flowing 
southwesterly  three  miles  to  the  Housatonic,  with  a  descent  of  sev- 
eral hundred  feet;  the  South  Mill  Brook,  rising  in  the  hills  about 
Cornwall  Plain,  and  flowing  southwest  into  the  Housatonic;  the 
Hallenbeck,  rising  in  the  Great  Hollow  and  flowing  northwesterly- 
through  Canaan  to  the  Housatonic.  These  are  good  mill  streams, 
furnishing  permanent  water-power,  but  the  Housatonic,  in  its 
whole  course  by  the  side  of  the  town,  flows  rapidly,  and  might 
form  the  basis  of  active  industry.  But  a  very  small  part  of  the 
power  of  this  river  is  yet  utilized  in  any  part  of  its  course.  These 
streams  are  all  fed  by  abundant,  never-failing  springs,  so  that  the 
name  of  "  the  sweet  water  country"  may  most  aptly  be  applied  to 
this  township. 

NATURAL    CONDITION    OF    CORNWALL. 

Cornwall,  as  a  township,  is  ^irregularly  hilly  and  mountainous. 
Thick  forests  covered  its  whole  area.  When  the  question  of  a  county 
seat  was  early  agitated,  and  Cornwall  put  in  her  claim  for  the  lienor, 
"  Yes,"  it  was  said,  "go  to  Cornwall  and  you  will  have  no  need  of 
a  jail,  for  whoever  gets  in  can  never  get  out  again."  The  old 
divine  who,  passing  through  Cornwall,  delivei'ed  himself  of  the 
following  couplet,  gave  more  truth  with  his  poetry  than  is  consid- 
ered essential: 

"  The  Almighty,  from  his  boundless  store, 
Piled  rocks  on  rocks,  and  did  no  more." 

Another  authority  attributes  it  to  Dr.  Dwight,  President  of  Yale 
College,  who  came  up  to  look  after  the  college  lands  and  thus 
expressed  himself: 

"  Tlie  God  of  Nature,  from  his  boundless  store, 
Threw  Cornwall  into  heaps,  and  did  no  more." 

While  the  surface  is  so  much  broken,  there  is  but  little  waste 
land,  for  even  the  steepest  sides  of  the  mountains  furnish  wood 
and  timber.  None  have  proved  inaccessible  to  the  collier,  and  but 
few  bits  of  original  forest  remain  as  samples  of  the  timber  that 
clothed  these  hills  and  darkened  the  valleys. 

Most  of  the  timber  was  oak,  chestnut,  hickory,  and  other  hard 
woods,  which  sprout  readily  when  cut  over,  thus  renewing  the 
forest  growth  unless  the  fields  are  subdued  by  cultivation.  The 
great  Hollow  abounded  in  the  white  pine,  but  this  was  especially 
the  prevailing  tree  on  the  Plain,  hence  called  Pine  Street.     Some 


20  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

noble  specimens  of  this  forest  remain;  one  grove  adjoining  on  the 
southeast  of  the  village  of  Cornwall.  No  other  village  in  the 
State  has  such  a  treasure  in  the  way  of  a  natural  park.  Such  a 
dense  growth  of  lofty  pines  is  rarely  seen  in  any  part  of  our 
country. 

Though  the  surface  is  rough  and  encumbered  with  rocks  and 
stones,  yet  it  is  very  fertile,  yielding  fruit,  grain,  and  grass  in 
abundance  to  the  hand  of  culture.  Only  forty  years  ago  the 
notion  of  using  a  mowing  machine  on  these  hills  would  only  have 
excited  laughter,  for  not  one  single  acre  was  cleared  so  that  it 
could  operate.  Now  they  are  a  necessity  upon  every  principal 
farm. 

For  many  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  town,  markets  were 
so  remote  that  it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  farmer  to  raise  every- 
thing he  needed  for  his  family  on  the  farm  and  to  sell  but  Uttle_ 
A  generous  but  stubborn  soil  thus  yielded  an  abundance  for  the 
necessities  of  its  inhabitants;  but  in  the  current  of  events  other 
towns  found  more  easy  access  to  market  and  this  was  left  in  the 
background.  The  Housatonic  Railroad,  opened  in  1840,  again 
gave  an  impulse  to  our  industry,  and  the  dairy,  to  which  the  soil 
is  well  adapted,  took  precedence  as  a  farm  industry.  Though  the 
experience  of  thirty  years  has  greatly  improved  our  dairy  products, 
yet  it  is  safe  to  say,  that  more  knowledge  and  skill,  which  already 
exists,  if  generally  applied  on  our  farms  producing  butter  and 
cheese,  would  add  at  least  twenty -five  per  cent,  to  their  net  returns. 

MINERALS    AND    MINING. 

The  rocky  surface  of  Cornwall  gave  large  indications  to  the 
early  settlers  of  mineral  wealth,  and  the  township  was  named  after 
the  rich  mining  region  in  the  old  country. 

Mine  Mountain,  near  the  Housatonic,  south  of  West  Cornwall, 
presented  rich  promise  of  plumbago  or  black  lead,  and  a  consider- 
able excavation  was  made  in  the  rock  for  it,  even  before  the  time 
of  the  Revolution.  The  principal  vein  runs  downward  and  grows 
narrower,  so  that  although  the  plumbago  is  of  excellent  quality  it 
cannot  be  obtained  in  paying  quantities,  and  after  repeated  trials 
at  subsequent  periods  the  search  has  been  abandoned. 

On  Cream  Hill,  James  Douglas  dug  two  mines,  one  for  gold  and 
the  other  for  silver.  The  gold  mine  was  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  deep,  and  drained  by  four  sets  of  pumps  and  a  deep  ditch. 
Tradition  is  that,  tlie  assayists  returned  a  small  button  of  gold  as 


MINERALS    AND    MINING. 


21 


obtained  from  the  ore,  which  appears  to  have  been  iron  pyrites, 
and  may  have  been  gold  bearing.  The  mine  was  abandoned 
temporarily,  not  because  their  hopes  were  gone  but  means  were 
exhausted.  Tlie  labor  of  excavating  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
in  solid  rock,  with  necessary  drainage,  if  applied  to  the  surface 
would  have  gone  far  towards  its  amelioration. 

The  silver  mine,  of  sixty  feet,  was  in  the  hill  near  the  school 
house.  Large  quantities  of  magnetic  iron  ore  were  thrown  out. 
which  were  afterwards  carried  away  and  worked  up  in  tlie  old 
forge  near  the  present  i-esidence  of  Chauncey  Baldwin. 

This  work  was  all  done  in  the  last  century;  but  in  my  boyhood 
I  remember  Captain  Holmes,  an  old  English  miner,  who  had 
worked  in  the  mine,  and  was  still  full  of  faith  in  its  value,  and 
was  anxious  to  have  it  reopened.  He  had  seen  a  vein  of  silver  ore, 
but  the  warnings  of  those  who  had  buried  their  fortunes  in  these 
enterprises  prevented  any  farther  explorations.* 

About  18G0,  at  the  urgency  of  a  friend,  we  opened  this  mine  to 
a  depth  of  forty  feet,  but  found  nothing  of  interest  but  a  wheelbar- 
row made  entirely  of  wood  and  a  pump  of  the  same  material;  with 
new  valves  the  latter  did  excellent  service  in  removing  the  water. 

About  the  same  date  a  company  from  New  York  purchased  the 
adjoining  field,  and  by  blasting  obtained  samples  of  nickel  ore,  but 
have  prosecuted  their  enterprise  no  farther. 

Search  has  been  made  in  various  places  for  iron  ore,  but  no 
workable  deposits  have  been  found. 

About  1860  a  deposit  of  porcelain  clay  was  found  in  the  south 
part  of  the  town,  and  extensive  buildings  were  erected  for  prepar- 
ing it  for  market.  The  supply  soon  failed  and  the  works  were 
abandoned. 

Granite  of  excellent  quality  abounds,  but  it  is  only  near  the 
South  Cornwall  cemetery  that  it  has  been  wrought  for  monumental 
uses.  Large  blocks  are  there  obtained  of  fine  grain  and  free  from 
blemish. 

Quarries  of  limestone,  suitable  for  use  in  smelting  iron,  have 

*  Captain  Holmes  having  been  disappointed  in  his  search  for  mineral  wealth, 
became  a  hermit,  building  himself  a  cabin  near  the  spring  by  the  side  of  the  road 
on  the  Blakeslee  Hill.  Here  he  lived  many  years  by  himself,  cultivating  a 
garden  and  working  out  among  the  farmers  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life. 
Too  sensitive  and  too  proud  to  return  to  his  friends  or  to  ask  assistance  of  them, 
he  died  about  fifty  years  since  in  the  poor-house  in  Salisbury,  in  which  town  he 
had  gained  a  residence. 


22  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

been  opened  near  Cornwall  Bridge,  but  have  only  been  used  for 
this  purpose. 

BRIDGES,    ROADS,    FERRY. 

The  Housatonic  is  now  crossed  by  three  bridges,  maintained 
jointly  with  Sharon,  two  of  wood  and  one  of  iron:  one  at  West 
Cornwall,  formerly  Hart's  Bridge;  one  at  Cornwall  Bridge;  and 
one  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  town,  caUed  Swift's  Bridge.  This 
latter  was  rebuilt  in  1875  of  iron,  at  a  cost  of  $2,500,  a  single  span, 
as  it  was  difficult  to  maintain  a  pier  from  the  ice. 

Chichester's  ferry. 

The  river  is  fordable  at  low  water  in  certain  places;  yet  before 
bridges  could  be  built  a  ferry  was  established  and  maintained  for 
many  years  near  Cornwall  Bridge.  Originally  the  rates  for  ferri- 
age were, — for  man,  horse,  and  load,  one  penny;  footman,  one-half 
penny;  led  horse,  three  farthings;  ox  or  other  neat  kine,  one 
penny;  sheep,  swine,  or  goats,  one  farthing. 

The  rates  of  ferriage  afterwards  were  ( Conn.  Statutes^  180S,) — 
man,  horse,  and  load,  one  cent  four  mills;  footman,  seven  mills; 
led  horse,  one  cent;  ox  or  other  neat  kine,  one  cent  four  mills; 
sheep,  swine,  or  goats,  four  mills.  We  are  not  informed  how  they 
made  change,  or  as  to  the  market  value  of  the  stock. 

Roads  were  laid  out  of  a  liberal  width,  usually  six  rods,  1  )ut  in 
other  respects  the  layout  fails  to  command  our  respect.  To  get  to 
the  top  of  the  highest  hill  by  the  shortest  route  and  thence  to  the 
top  of  the  next,  seems  to  have  been  the  chief  object  in  view,  and 
though  many  of  these  old  roads  have  been  discarded,  yet  the 
traveler,  if  he  has  any  taste  for  engineering,  still  has  an  oppor- 
tunity to  exercise  his  propensity.  The  old  Sharon  and  Goshen 
turnpike  crossed  the  town  from  west  to  east  near  the  middle,  and 
though  relinquished  as  a  turnpike  and  its  gates  removed  in  1850, 
still  it  remains  one  of  the  chief  avenues  of  travel.  The  Warren 
and  the  Washington  turnpikes  are  still  maintained  as  town  roads, 
yet  have  lost  their  importance  for  travel.  The  town  now  maintains 
between  eighty  and  ninety  miles  of  road,  at  an  annual  cost  of 
about  $3,000.  Natural  difficulties,  aggravated  by  bad  location  of 
our  highways,  impose  a  heavy  tax  to  keep  the  roads  passable;  yet 
there  is  decided  improvement  in  the  majority.  Fewer  roads  and 
better  ones,  at  less  total  expense,  should  l)e  our  aim. 


DRESS  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO. INDIANS.  23 

DRESS  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO. 

The  men  and  women  of  one  hundred  years  ago  might,  to  those 
of  the  present  age,  well  appear  strange,  for  their  style  of  dress  was 
very  different  from  ours. 

Gentlemen  wore  the  cocked  hat,  leather  breeches,  long-skirted 
coat,  a  doulilet  with  large  metal  buttons,  liroad  round-toed  shoes 
with  massive  buckles,  in  winter  leggins  and  in  summer  the  leg 
bare  from  the  knee  down.  On  .Sundays  the  hair  was  crimped  and 
powdered.  A  scarlet  colored  coat  was  not  unfrequent,  especially 
among  the  young  men. 

The  ladies  were  distinguished  by  long  waisted  dresses,  hoopskirts, 
high-heeled  shoes,  the  hair  crimped  and  powdered,  when  in  full 
dress  wearing  a  rich  pink  damask  silk  with  a  profusion  of  rich 
lace  and  other  ornaments. 

The  manners  of  that  day  were  as  distinctly  marked  as  the  dress. 
The  usual  way  of  riding  was  on  horseback;  the  gentlemen  on  the 
saddle,  the  lady  on  a  pillion  behind  him.  Wagons  and  carry -alls 
were  unknown.  Hospitality  was  held  in  high  estimation  by  them, 
and  a  good  degree  of  that  same  choice  quality  in  character  still 
holds  a  place  among  their  descendants,  and  may  it  never  be  less. 
Their  habits  of  living  were  plain  and  simple,  but  few  luxuries 
were  theirs.  They  were  a  temperate,  industrious,  bold,  and  hardy 
people.  We  may  well  be  proud  of  such  an  ancestry,  and  should 
be  careful  not  to  disgrace  them  by  our  degeneracy. 


The  Moliawks  seem  to  have  possessed  this  part  of  the  state. 
We  do  not  learn  that  they  had  any  permanent  settlement  within 
our  borders,  yet  the  numerous  arrow-heads  and  other  relics  turned 
tip  by  the  plowshare,  show  these  to  have  been  favorite  hunting 
grounds.  Occasionally  the  Indians  from  Bantam  (Litchfield), 
Schaticoke  (Kent),  and  Weatogue  (Salisbury),  hunted  on  the  hills, 
and  in  fishing  followed  the  Housatonic.  From  Bantam  to  Weatogue 
they  maintained  a  trail  or  path  which  was  well  known  to  the  first 
settlers.  It  crossed  the  great  valley  called  the  Hollow  from  south 
east  to  northwest  about  one  hundred  rods  north  of  the  residence  of 
the  late  Samuel  Johnson,  and  passed  near  a  living  spring  where  they 
were  accustomed  to  encamp,  and  where  occasionally  have  been  found 
the  remains  of  their  domestic  utensils.  As  a  protection  against  them, 
and  a  place  of  refuge  in  case  of  attack,  a  palisade  fort  was  early 


24  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

erected  near  the  residence  of  the  late  Judge  Bui-nham.  The  alarm 
signal  was  three  guns  fired  in  rapid  succession.  An  occasional 
lurking  Indian  kept  them  on  the  alert,  but  happily  we  have  no  out- 
rages to  record. 

One  evening  as  James  Douglass  was  on  his  way  to  the  fort,  from 
Cream  Hill,  having  remained  at  work  later  than  usual,  his  family 
having  gone  before,  as  he  was  passing  through  the  low  land,  Pratt's 
meadow,  then  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  timber,  in  a  narrow 
foot-path,  ho  discovered  two  Indians,  one  on  either  side  of  the 
path  awaiting  his  approacli.  As  Mr.  Douglass  had  advanced  too 
near  to  retreat  before  he  saw  them,  he  assumed  a  bold  and  daring 
manner  and  walked  coolly  between  the  two  savages,  who.  remained 
without  motion,  being  overawed  by  his  fearless  manner  or  out  of 
respect  to  the  courage  he  displayed,  and  offered  him  no  molesta- 
tion. 

They  kept  constant  guard  when  at  work  in  the  fields,  and  when 
James  Douglass  and  his  sons  were  at  work  his  daughters,  [one  my 
great  grandmother — T.  S.  G.]  often  sat  by  the  loaded  guns  to  give 
the  alarm. 

As  a  race  they  have  passed  away.  The  older  inhabitants  still 
remember  several  families  of  them,  and  the  bravery  of  one  gains 
him  a  place  elsewhere  in  these  records.     (See  William  Coggswell.) 

We  are  indebted  to  Gen.  Chas.  Sedgwick  for  the  following 
sketch  of  the  Indian 

TOM    WARRUPS. 

This  noble  old  Indian  Warrior  died  in  Cornwall  early  in  the  pres- 
ent century,  and  was  well  known  throughout  the  township.  In  his 
old  age  his  hair  became  perfectly  white,  and  his  visits  to  all  parts 
of  the  town  were  frequent  and  acceptable,  while  his  witty  pleas- 
antries were  long  remembered.  He  was  of  the  Schaticoke  tribe 
but  he  became  a  resident  of  Cornwall  in  his  early  life.  In  the 
Revolutionary  war  he  enlisted  into  a  company  commanded  by 
Edward  Rogers,  Esq.,  as  Captain,  of  which  Loyal  Tanner  was 
Lieutenant;  this  company  was  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island  and 
shared  in  all  the  disastrous  results  of  that  conflict,  and  in  the 
perils  attending  tlie  retreat  of  the  army  from  New  York,  'J'om  was 
always  spoken  of  by  his  surviving  comrades  as  a  brave  and  daring 
soldier,  ready  for  every  duty  and  danger  required  by  the  service. 

The  following  anecdote  used  to  be  told  as  illustrating  his  Indian 
character.  After  the  retreat  from  New  York  tlie  company  was  sta- 
tioned on  the  shore  of  the  East  River,  and  one  morning  a  party  of 


FARMING    AND    FARMERS.  25 

British,  went  up  the  River  in  boats  on  a  foraging  expedition,  and 
landed  not  far  from  the  Cornwall  company.  Captain  Rogers  pro- 
posed that  the  company  should  attempt  their  capture,  as  the  party 
was  small  and  could  probably  be  easily  taken  prisoners,  and  sub- 
mitting the  proposal  to  the  company,  some  favored  and  others  dis- 
approved of  it.  "When  the  question  was  asked  Tom  he  said,  I  guess 
we  had  ietter  kill  ivhat  prisoners  ive  noio  have  hefore  we  trij  to  get  any 
more.  He  was  celebrated  for  his  ready  wit,  and  stories  of  it  were 
often  related  in  the  early  years  of  this  century. 

Like  the  generality  of  his  race  he  was  addicted  to  intoxication, 
and  even  in  the  army,  he  was  sentenced  for  that  offence  to  a  ride 
on  the  wooden  horse  in  front  of  the  regiment.  While  being  thus 
transported  on  the  shoulders  of  his  comrades  Lieut.  Tanner  asked 
him  if  he  did  not  feel  ashamed  to  be  presented  to  the  Regiment  in 
that  way.  "Yes,"  said  Tom,  "I  am  ashamed  to  think  that  our 
Lieutenant  must  go  on  foot,  while  a  poor  old  Indian  can  ride." 

Here  is  another  anecdote:  Capt.  Jeffers  once  meeting  him  said, 
"  Why,  Tom,  I  was  in  hopes  you  were  dead."  "  Why,"  said  Tom, 
"  do  you  want  the  widow  ?" 

Very  few  among  the  living  can  remember  him,  but  his  revolu- 
tionary services  and  the  universal  kindness  with  which  lie  was  re- 
garded renders  it  proper  that  his  memory  should  be  preserved. 

FARMING    AND    FARMERS. 

Farming  has  ever  been  the  general  occupation  of  the  citizens  of 
this  town.  A  thick  and  unbroken  forest  covered  the  whole  town- 
ship. The  first  explorers  found  it  difficult  to  select  the  most  desira- 
ble locations,  hence  we  view  with  surprise  the  choice  made  by  many 
for  their  homes.  We  can  hardly  conceive  of  the  labors  and  trials 
which  they  endured  in  clearing  and  subduing  to  culture  these  wild 
hills.  The  possession  of  capital  gave  little  advantage  or  very 
sHght  exemption  from  toil  and  hardship.  House-building,  road- 
building,  clearing  of  land,  culture  of  crops,  planting  of  orchards, 
destruction  of  noxious  animals,  protection  from  the  Indians,  the 
erection  of  mills,  the  establishment  of  schools  and  churches,  and 
of  town  government,  gave  abundant  employment  for  all.  Popula- 
tion increased  rapidly,  both  by  immigration  and  natural  growth — • 
all  supported  by  home-grown  products.  The  few  supplies  brought 
with  the  settlers  from  earlier  settlements  were  soon  exhausted, 
and  the  difficulty  of  transportation  rendered  them  dependent  upon 
their  own  resources.  The  native  forest,  consisting  largely  of  white 
4 


26  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

oak,  cliestnut,  and  hickory,  indicated  a  strong  and  productive  soil, 
adapted  to  the  growth  of  Indian  corn,  wheat,  rye,  oats,  grass,  fruit; 
in  fact,  all  the  great  staples  of  northern  agriculture.  Potatoes 
were  then  unknown  as  an  article  of  food.  Though  a  native  of 
America,  they  were  only  known  as  a  tropical  product.  The  mem- 
ory of  the  generation  just  passing  away  reaches  the  date  of  their 
introduction,  and  for  some  time  a  store  of  two  or  three  bushels 
was  considered  a  full  family  supply.  Turnips,  beans,  green  corn, 
and  pumpkins  were  the  principal  vegetables,  while  dry  corn  in  the 
shape  of  samp  or  hominy,  coarsely  pounded  in  the  old  samp  mor- 
tars, formed  the  main  reliance.  These  mortars  were  made  of  a 
pepperidge  log,  about  one  foot  in  diameter  and  two  feet  long.  The 
ends  were  cut  o3  square,  so  that  it  stood  on  end,  and  the  upper 
hollowed  to  receive  the  grain.  The  pestle  was  of  hard  wood,  two 
feet  or  more  in  length,  with  a  handle  inserted  in  the  side  like  a 
common  hammer.  These  mortars  are  still  to  be  found  around  old 
homesteads,  having  been  in  use  even  in  this  century  for  pounding 
corn,  salt,  etc. 


,":>amp  Mortar  and  Pestle. 

As  soon  as  mills  could  be  erected,  wheat  and  rye  were  raised  in 
considerable  quantity.  The  virgin  soil  yielded  a  rich  return  even 
to  their  rude  culture.  No  soil  exhaustion  troubled  them.  The 
Canada  thistle,  and  other  noxious  weeds,  were  unknown.  The 
hardhack  [Potentilla  fruticosa)  had  not  invaded  their  pastures.  The 
apple- worm,  the  borer,  pear-blight,  peach-tree  yellows,  curculio, 
and  plum-knot,  were  evils  of  which  they  never  heard.  So  that 
they  had  some  happy  compensations  to  make  up  for  their  priva- 
tions, and,  to  balance  the  supposed  necessities  of  the  present  day, 
when  our  farmers  feed  upon  wheat  grown  beyond  the  Missouri, 
the  cattle  of  Illinois  and  our  own  cattle  are  fattened  upon  the  corn 
of  the  far  west. 

The  rich  grass  springing  everywhere  where  the  forest  was 
cleared,  indicated  the  dairy  as  a  leading  branch  of  their  hus- 
bandry. As  soon  as  their  family  wants  were  supplied,  the  dairy 
furnished  a  product  which  would  allow  of  transportation,  and 
which,  with  beef  and  pork,  has  continued  to  be  the  main  rehance 


FARMING    AND    FARMERS.  27 

of  our  farmers  for  supplying  their  outside  wants.  The  distance  of 
markets  for  the  sale  of  produce  and  purchase  of  supplies,  made  a 
self-reliant  system  of  mixed  husbandry  a  necessity.  Not  only  was 
the  food  supply  homegrown,  but  clothing,  in  its  material  and  man- 
ufacture, was  all  homesjmn.  The  farmer  and  his  family  were  clad 
in  linen  spun  and  woven  in  the  house  from  flax  grown  and  dressed 
on  the  farm,  or  woolen  from  his  own  sheep,  colored  with  native 
dyestuffs,  as  butternut  or 'oak,  when  the  black  sheep  were  too  few 
to  give  the  due  proportion  of  colored  wool.  Shoes  were  from  the 
hides  of  his  own  animals,  tanned  by  himself,  or,  later,  at  some 
neighboring  tannery,  and  made  up  by  the  traveling  shoemaker, 
who,  "  whipping  the  cat,"  carried  his  own  tools  and  wax,  but 
worked  up  the  homegrown  leather  with  shoe-thread  and  pegs  all 
grown  on  the  farm.  A  wooden  standard  at  one  end  of  his  bench 
provided  for  two  candles,  an  extravagance  otherwise  not  allowed — 
but  these  were  of  home  material,  tallow  with  a  tow  wick — their 
slender  proportions  reveahng  more  clearly  than  any  other  single 
thing  the  leanness  of  their  housekeeping. 

Stoves  were  unknown.  Fifty  years  count  back  to  the  time 
when  they  were  as  rare  as  open  fireplaces  now  are.  Most  ample 
fireplaces  received  wood  as  large  as  could  be  handled,  the  object 
being  to  consume  it  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  huge  chimney  was 
a  perfect  ventilator;  and  in  spite  of  their  fatigues  and  toU,  and 
lack  of  now  called  comforts,  they  enjoyed  life  with  a  zest  surpass- 
ing the  present.  Four  families  in  one  school-district,  with  twelve 
children  each  (West  District),  made  lively  times — and  all  earned 
their  own  bread. 

Acute  disease  often  carried  them  off  suddenly,  and  the  feeble 
had  httle  chance  of  life;  yet  their  very  hardships  gave  them 
strength  and  long  lives,  and  strong  vitality  marked  our  ancestors. 
But  this  has  no  connection  with  farming,  except  as  showing  how 
farmers  lived. 

For  stock,  their  cattle  were  small  and  rough,  of  various  colors, 
brindle  and  brown  being  favorites  ;  yet  many  of  the  cows  were 
good  milkers.  The  sheep  were  a  long-legged,  scraggy  race,  with 
thin  and  coarse  wool,  but  hardy  and  good  nurses.  The  swine 
were  especially  coarse  and  thick-skinned,  often  large. 

Tools  of  all  kinds  were  of  the  rudest  description.  The  plow  was 
of  wood,  the  point  being  of  steel  or  iron  fashioned  by  the  black- 
smith, whose  shop  was  located  in  every  neighborhood  for  the  con- 
venience of  shai-pening  the  plow-irons;  the  harrow  home-made,  with 


28  HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL. 

wooden  teeth;  the  hay  and  manure  forks  of  iron,  so  heavy  that  no 
man  now  would  use  them ;  in  fact,  the  change  in  farming  tools  has 
been  almost  as  great  as  the  change  in  the  aspect  of  the  township 
from  the  primeval  forest  to  the  cultivated  field  of  the  present.  Yet 
we  should  make  as  poor  work  farming  with  the  stock  of  a  hundred 
years  ago  as  with  their  tools.  Because  we  have  no  specimens  left 
of  the  former,  we  do  not  notice  the  change. 

THE    farmers'    club. 

This  institution,  which  has  effected  much  good  in  this  commun- 
ity, socially,  morally,  and  physically,  originated  in  the  year  1846. 
One  evening  in  the  month  of  November  of  that  year,  six  men,  by 
previous  agreement,  met  at  the  house  of  T.  L.  Hart,  Esq.,  and 
organized  this  club.  Meetings  were  held  in  several  neighborhoods 
once  in  two  weeks  during  the  winter.  The  numbers  increased; 
some  addresses  were  delivered,  and  the  public  mind  became 
informed  and  interested  in  the  objects  aimed  at;  which  were  the 
gathering  and  diffusion  of  agricultural  and  horticultural  knowledge 
among  the  people. 

The  peculiarly  social  features  of  this  club,  the  farmers  and  their 
wives  and  children  meeting  for  social  intercourse,  as  well  as 
instruction,  have  given  it  a  permanence  and  practical  value  that 
otherwise  could  not  have  been  attained.  The  enthusiasm  of  num- 
bers has  given  strength  to  the  institution.  Meetings  have  been 
continued  with  more  or  less  regularity  every  winter  since  its  form- 
ation. 

It  is  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  human  calculation  to  estimate 
all  the  good  which  the  organization  and  continuance  of  the  Farmers' 
Club  has  produced.  In  a  pecuniary  point  of  view  it  has  well  paid, 
while  in  intellectual,  social,  and  moral  benefits  it  has  accomplished 
still  greater  good.  It  has  multiplied  knowledge,  improved  man- 
ners by  increasing  social  intercourse,  eradicating  those  petty  jeal- 
ousies and  bickerings  which  are  too  common  a  source  of  trouble 
in  neighborhoods.  Who,  that  has  been  well  acquainted  with  this 
community  for  the  last  twenty-five  years,  is  not  aware  of  its  bene- 
fits ?  Cherish  this  institution,  and,  while  you  labor  for  its  success, 
you  will  share  its  blessings.  Beautiful  homes  will  more  and  more 
adorn  your  hills  and  valleys.  A  broader  and  kinder  spirit  of  good 
feeling  will  mark  this  people  in  all  their  social  relations;  and  to 
have  a  residence  here  will  be  no  common  blessing. 


FOREIGN   MISSION  SCHOOL. 


SCHOOLS.  29 


Foreign  Mission  School. — The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  in  1816, 
resolved  to  establish  a  school  in  this  country  for  the  education  of 
foreign  youth,  designing  to  fit  them  to  become  "missionaries, 
schoolmasters,  interpreters,  and  physicians  among  heathen  nations: 
and  to  communicate  such  information  in  agriculture  and  the  arts 
as  should  tend  to  promote  Christianity  and  civilization."  For  this 
object  a  farm  was  purchased  in  Cornwall,  and  suitable  buildings 
erected,  and  a  school  commenced  May  1,  1817,  with  twelve  pupils. 

Mr.  Edwin  W.  Dwight,  of  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  took  charge  of 
the  school  for  one  year,  till  Eev.  Herman  Dagget,  of  New  Canaan, 
could  be  at  liberty  to  take  the  post,  which  he  held  acceptably  for 
about  six  years.  He  was  succeeded  in  1824  by  Rev.  Amos  Bas- 
set, D.  D.,  who  continued  in  charge  till  the  school  was  disbanded, 
in  1827.  Rev.  Herman  L.  Vaill  was,  for  a  time,  an  assistant 
teacher.  The  school  was  a  decided  success  as  far  as  its  original 
plan  was  concerned,  and  was  closed  because  the  opportunities  of 
educating  the  heathen  on  their  own  ground  were  opened,  thus  ren- 
dering it  unnecessary  and  from  the  local  opposition  produced  by 
the  marriage  of  two  Cherokee  Indians  with  respectable  white  girls 
residing  in  the  town. 

The  number  of  pupils  in  1822  had  risen  to  34,  representing  the 
leading  then  known  Indian  tribes,  and  many  of  the  Pacific  Islands. 
Henry  Obookiah,  a  Sandwich  Islander,  was  a  devoted  Christian, 
and  gave  great  promise  of  usefulness,  but  he  died  whUe  a  member 
of  the  school,  Feb.  17,  1818,  aged  26.  A  tablet  erected  to  his 
memory  in  the  cemetery  at  Cornwall  bears  this  inscription: 

In 

memory  of 

Henry  Obookiah, 

a  native  of 

Owyhee. 

His  arrival  in  this  country  gave  rise  to  the  Foreign  Mission  School, 

of  which  he  was  a  worthy  memlser.     He  was  once  an  Idolater,  and  was 

designed  for  a  Pagan  Priest;  but  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  by  the 

prayers  and  instructions  of  jiious  friends,  he  became  a  Christian. 

He  was  eminent  for  piety  and  missionary  zeal.  When  almost  prepared 
to  return  to  his  native  Isle,  to  preach  the  Gospel,  God  took  him  to  him- 
self. In  his  last  sickness  he  wept  and  prayed  for  Owyhee,  but  was  sub- 
missive. He  died  without  fear,  with  a  heavenly  smile  on  his  countenance 
and  glory  in  his  soul, 

Feb.  17,  1818, 
Aged  36. 


30  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

A  sketch  of  his  life,  by  Rev.  E.  W.  Dwight,  the  first  instructor 
of  the  school,  has  been  published  by  the  American  Tract  Society, 
and  forms  a  most  interesting  and  valuable  volume  for  Sabbath 
schools.  His  memory  is  cherished  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  the 
cause  of  missions  has  a  stronger  hold  upon  christians  in  Litchfield 
county,  that  he  was  permitted  to  bear  his  testimony  before  them 
to  the  power  of  the  cross. 

Thomas  H.  Patoo,  another  converted  heathen,  is  interred  beside 
him.     His  monument  bears  this  inscription: 

In 

memory  of 
Thomas  Hammatah  Patoo, 
a  native  of  the  Marquesas  Islands,  and  a  member  of  the  Foreign  Mission 
School,  who  died  June  19,  1823,  aged  about  19  years. 

He  was  hopefully  pious,  and  had  a  great  desire  to  be  qualified  to 
become  a  missionary  to  his  ignorant  countrymen.  But  he  died  in  hope 
of  a  better  country. 

This  stone  is  erected  by  the  liberality  of  his  Christian  friends  in  N. 
Coventry,  Conn.,  among  whom  he  first  found  the  Saviour  of  sinners. 

The  annual  commencements  of  the  school  drew  together  a  large 
concourse  of  christian  ministers  and  other  citizens.  These  exercises 
of  song  and  rehearsal  in  their  various  languages,  then  so  little 
known,  were  of  great  interest.  At  this  school  was  educated  John 
Boudinot,  the  Cherokee  who  reduced  that  language  to  a  written 
form.  The  influence  of  this  school  may  be  seen  to-day  in  the 
advanced  civilization  of  the  Cherokees,  and  other  Indian  tribes, 
among  whom  the  institutions  of  religion  and  education  are  most 
dearly  cherished,  and  their  refining  effects  most  clearly  shown. 

Cornwall  was  selected  as  the  location  for  this  school  from  the  free- 
dom from  temptation  in  its  seclusion,  the  healthfulness  of  its 
climate,  and  its  kindly  soil,  and  the  sound  moral  and  christian 
influences  which  pervaded  the  community.  The  same  reasons 
have  made  it  a  favorite  location  for  various  select  or  private 
schools.  The  school  building  of  the  Foreign  Mission  School  was 
for  many  years  used  for  a  select  school,  under  the  charge  of  vari- 
ous teachers,  then  for  a  public  school,  till  it  was  removed,  in  1873, 
to  give  place  to  the  chapel  of  the  First  Congregational  Church, 
erected  on  the  same  ground. 


FOREIGN   MISSION    SCHOOL. INDIAN    SONG. 


31 


List  of  Members  of  the  Foreign  Mission  School,  Cornwall,  Conn., 
July  23,  1823,  by  Caleb  Jones. 

Names. 
George  D.  Weed, 
Horatio  N.  Hubbell, 
Benuet  Koberts, 
Joseph  Potang  Suotv 
John  C.  Trepoah, 
Robert  Whyhee, 
Henry  Taheete, 
David  Brainerd, 
Charles  Arohekaah, 
John  E.  Pheljis, 
Charles  Backus, 
Samuel  J.  Mills, 
John  Newcom, 
John  N.  Chicks, 
Solomon  Sabattis, 
Peter  Augustine, 
Guy  Chew, 
William  L.  Gray, 
David  Gray, 
Jacob  P.  Tarbel, 
Thomas  Zealand, 
Jaines  Lewis, 
William  Botelho, 
Heniy  Martyn  Alan, 
William  Alum, 
Jonas  I.  Abrahams, 
John  Joseph  Loy, 
Photius  Kavasales, 
Auastasius  Karavelles, 
George  Fox, 
John  Saunders, 
David  C.  Carter, 
Miles  Mackey, 
James  Terrell, 
Isaac  Fisk, 
George  Tyler, 

There  were  not  only  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Portuguese,  but  the 
Cherokee  tribe  of  Indians  was  there  represented.  Two  members  of  this 
tribe  became  enamored  with  two  of  the  young  ladies  of  the  village, 
offered  marriage  and  were  accepted.  This  created  a  good  deal  of  feel- 
ing, and  finally  ended  in  breaking  up  the  school.  The  famous  John 
Ridge  was  one  of  the  Indian  lovers,  and  during  the  excitement  the  poet 
wrote  the  following  song : 

TO  THE  INDIANS  OF  CORNWALL. 

O,  come  with  me,  white  girl  fiiir, 

O,  come  where  Mobile's  sources  flow  ;  ' 
With  me  my  Indian  blanket  share. 

And  share  with  me  my  bark  canoe  : 
We'll  build  our  cabin  in  the  wild, 

Beneath  the  forest's  lofty  shade. 
With  logs  on  logs  transversely  piled, 

And  barks  on  barks  obliquely  laid. 


Native  Names. 

Country. 

Anglo-American,  Catskill,  N.  Y. 

•'           "          Trumbull,  Conn. 

"           "         Tompkins,  N.  Y. 

Sar-duk, 

Malay. 

I-re-p6-ah, 

Owyhee. 

Whv-hee, 

Mowhee. 

Ta-hee-te, 

Owyhee. 

Mak-oo-wi-he-: 

aa. 

11 

A-ro-he-ka-ah, 

11 

Kal-la-ah-ou-lun-nah 

Na-muk-ka-h:'i- 

-loo. 

U 

Pau-loo, 

Woahoo. 

Wau-ne-mauk-theet, 

Stockbridge  Indian. 

Pau-poon-haut 

't 

ii.       ''            u 

Sol-lo-loh, 

Mohegan. 

Ta-kon-o-tas, 

Oneida. 

Tuscarora. 

Iroquois. 

a 

Ka-la-la, 

New  Zealand. 
Narragansett. 

Lieaon  Asee, 

Chinese. 

A-lan, 

n 

A-lum, 

u 

Jew. 

Portuguese. 

Greek. 

A-to-Koh, 

Seneca. 
Cherokee. 

Choctaw. 

Owyhee. 


32  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

O,  come  with  me,  my  white  girl  fair, 

Come,  seek  with  me  the  southern  clime, 
And  dwell  with  me  securely  there. 

For  there  my  arms  sliall  round  thee  twine ; 
The  olive  is  thy  favorite  hue. 

But  sweet  to  me  thy  lily  face  ; 
O,  sweet  to  both,  when  l)oth  shall  view 

These  colors  mingled  in  our  race. 

Then  come  with  me,  my  white  girl  fair, 

And  thou  a  hunter's  bride  shalt  be ; 
For  thee  I'll  chase  the  roebuck  there. 

And  thou  shalt  dress  the  feast  for  me : 
O,  wild  and  sweet  our  feast  shall  be. 

The  feast  of  love  and  joy  is  ours  ; 
Then  come,  my  white  girl  fair,  with  me, 

O  come  and  bless  my  sylvan  bowers. 

By  Silas  Hurlbut  McAlpine. 

[The  following  metrical  essay  is  part  history  and  part  romance. 
Though  it  graces  no  volume  of  "  Connecticut  Poets,"  it  nevertheless 
once  had  a  considerable  local  fame,  and  there  are  many  among  our  aged 
readers  who  will  remember  having  read  it  more  than  forty  years  ago.] 

THE     INDIAN     SONG,    SARAH    AND    JOHN. 

[Composed  by  Emily  Fox  of  Cornwall.] 

Behold,  there  came  into  our  town, 
A  man  of  fame  and  great  renown ; 
He  had  thought  to  live  in  splendor  liere, 
And  brought  with  him  a  daughter  dear. 

She  was  blest  with  beauty  bright  and  fair, 
There  were  few  witli  her  could  compare. 
O,  'tis  hard  for  to  relate  the  truth. 
She  fell  in  love  with  an  Indian  youth ! 

He  was  a  bright  young  man,  we  know. 
And  with  him  she  resolved  to  go. 
He  flatter'd  her  to  be  his  young  dove. 
Till  her  young  heart  was  filled  with  love. 

Then  to  her  mother  he  did  go, 
To  see  whether  he  might  have  her  or  no. 
She  was  well  pleas'd  at  the  words  of  John, 
And  consented  that  he  should  be  her  son. 

They  kept  it  a  secret,  and  did  not  tell. 
How  Sarah  loved  an  Indian  well ; 
Nor  was  the  secret  thing  made  known, 
Till  from  his  country  he  did  return. 

Her  father  then  being  out  of  town. 
And  wlien  he  heard  that  John  had  come. 
He  sighed,  and  for  his  child  did  mourn. 
Saying,  O  that  my  Sarah  had  not  been  born. 


AN    INDIAN    SONG.  33 

And  when  this  Indian  he  had  come, 
She  thought  her  daughter  was  undone  ; 
She  made  as  though  her  lieart  woukl  break, 
And  it  was  for  her  daugliter's  sake. 

She  being  then  borne  down  with  grief, 
Went  to  her  neighbor  for  relief, 
Sajang,  my  sorrows,  friend,  are  hard  to  tell ; 
Our  Sarah  loves  this  Indian  well. 

What  shall  I  do,  what  can  I  say ; 
Can  I  bear  my  child  should  go  away? 
For  she  is  young  and  in  her  bloom, — 
We'll  fasten  her  tight  in  a  room. 

O  fasten  her,  I  think  to  say ; 

She  with  the  Indian  shall  not  stay  ; 

Then  in  distraction  this  fair  maid  did  run. 

It  was  for  the  love  of  an  Indian  man. 

Declaring  if  she  was  not  his  wife, 
Most  suddenly  she  would  end  her  life. 
Sickness  on  lier  then  did  fall. 
And  for  the  doctor  they  did  call. 

He  gave  them  soon  to  understand, 
'Twas  for  the  love  of  an  Indian  man. 
Unto  her  parents  he  did  tell. 
Let  her  have  him  and  she  will  be  well. 

The  Reverend  Vaill  we  would  not  blame; 
On  Sabbath  next  he  published  them, 
But  Reverend  Smith  feared  not  the  law. 
He  married  this  lady  to  be  a  squaw. 

Higlily  promoted  were  Sai-ah  and  John, 
Col.  Gold  did  them  wait  upon, 
He  waited  on  them  most  genteel  too. 
And  seated  them  in  his  own  pew. 

Upon  her  side  it  does  look  dark. 

To  think  how  she  used  her  neighbor  Clark — 

Has  left  behind  for  to  make  sport. 

To  think  she  did  with  an  Indian  court. 

He  went  with  her  both  night  and  day, 
Wliile  her  dear  John  was  gone  away. 
And  unto  him  she  did  not  tell 
How  that  she  loved  an  Indian  well. 

He  being  absent  from  his  friends, 
A  letter  unto  her  he  did  send. 
And  unto  it  she  woukl  not  hear. 
But  married  John  her  only  dear. 

Her  parents  with  her  a  piece  did  go. 
To  bid  their  lovely  child  adieu — 
Now  with  her  mother  she  .must  part. 
Which  was  enough  to  break  her  heart. 


34  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

She  hung  upon  her  mother's  breast, 
With  sighs  and  tears  did  her  embrace, 
I  cannot  bear,  I  am  sure,  said  she, 
My  tender  mother,  to  leave  thee. 

He  snatch'd  her  from  the  mother's  breast. 
And  his  tawny  arms  did  her  embrace, 
Sarah,  said  he,  you  are  mine  you  know. 
And  with  me  you  have  got  to  go. 

Now  Sarah  is  gone  and  seen  no  more — 
She  has  gone  and  left  her  native  shore — 
Ah  !  yes,  she  has  gone  but  proved  unkind, 
And  left  her  whole  disgrace  behind. 

She  thinks  great  splendor  slie  shall  see, 
When  she  arrives  at  Cherokee — 
She  thinks  great  splendor  there  is  seen, 
And  she  be  crowned  for  a  queen. 

She  would  be  disappointed  of  her  home. 
To  find  a  little,  small  wigwam. 
And  nothing  allowed  her  for  a  bed. 
But  a  dirty  blanket,  it  is  said. 

And  this  be  hard  for  Sarah  fair. 
Who  long  did  live  in  splendor  here. 
To  lay  aside  her  laces  and  fine  gowns. 
Her  Indian  blanket  to  put  on. 

'Twould  sink  her  pride — 'twould  raise  her  shame. 
To  follow  him  and  carry  game. 
And  with  her  John  must  march  along, 
Amidst  a  savage  whooi^ing  throng. 

Come  all  young  maids  I  pray  take  care 
How  Indians  draw  you  into  a  snare. 
For  if  they  do  I  fear  it  will  be 
As  it  is  with  our  fair  Sarah. 

And  what  a  dreadful,  doleful  sound 
Is  often  heard  from  town  to  town. 
Reflecting  words  from  every  friend. 
How  our  ladies  marry  Indian  men. 

Now  Sarah  is  gone — her  we  ne'er  shall  view — • 
She's  gone,  and  to  her  love  proves  true, 
O  yes,  she's  gone,  and  her  Indian  too — 
Now  Sarah  we  will  bid  adieu. 

A  Fragment  of  the  Funeral  Sermon  of  Rev.  Herman  Daggett,  hy  Rev. 

Timothy  Stone. 

He  had  already,  by  an  early  discipline,  formed  his  mind  for  systemati- 
cal study  ;  and  had  learned  the  necessity  of  order  and  close  application 
to  ol)tain  science.  Having  little  or  no  patrimony  to  aid  him,  and  being 
infirm  in  hcaltli,  it  was  a  great  efi'ort  for  him  to  go  through  a  course  of 
collegiate  study.  No  education  society  then  existed,  to  cherish  the  hopes 
of  indigent  and   promising  youth  who  souglit   knowledge.     By  strict 


FRAGMENT    OF    A    FUNERAL    SERMON.  35 

economy,  and  some  aid  from  friends,  he  went  thronnh  the  regular  course 
of  four  years  study,  in  Brown's  University,  in  Providence,  R.  I.  His 
standing  in  college  as  a  scholar  was  so  respectable  that  an  honorable 
appointment  was  allotted  him  in  the  exercises  of  commencement,  when 
he  graduated,  Sept.  1788.  Among  his  fellow  students  in  college  he  was 
much  esteemed. 

Mr.  Daggett  entered  college  without  vital  piety.  But  in  an  early  period 
of  his  residence  there,  his  heart  and  affections  were  changed  by  the 
grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

This  revolution  in  the  character  of  Mr.  Daggett  w^as  the  commence- 
ment of  a  course  of  uncommon  devotedness  to  God.  He  no  more 
regarded  himself  as  his  own,  but  as  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Jesus 
C'hrist.  In  prosecuting  study,  he  was  now  incited  by  motives  elevated 
above  the  desire  of  being  a  distinguished  scholar,  or  of  gratifying  his 
taste  for  literature,  or  of  enjoying  the  pleasures  of  science:  it  is  true, 
that  he  did  not  lose  his  relish  for  these  innocent  enjoyments.  He  loved 
knowledge,  and  delighted  in  the  cultivation  of  letters  :  but  he  had  found 
the  pearl  of  great  jirice,  and  to  obtain  it,  he  could  cheerfully  sell  all. 
Like  Paul,  he  "  counted  all  things  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  (Jhrist  Jesus  his  Lord." 

It  is  known  that  Mr.  Daggett  wrote  to  a  considerable  extent  a  regular 
joui'nal ;  but  a  small  part,  however,  of  such  manuscripts,  has  been  seen 
since  his  decease ;  he  no  doubt  destroyed  many  of  them. 

No  one  appeared  more  opposed  to  egotism  and  vanity  than  he,  and 
to  speak  of  himself. 

The  following  lines  were  written  by  him  in  college,  not  long  after  he 
was  of  the  age  of  nineteen.  They  express  his  firm  confidence  in  the 
Saviour,  and  in  the  belief  of  his  being  united  to  Him  by  faith;  and  that 
he  was  resolved  to  be  wholly  devoted  to  his  service. 

"  Come  my  beloved,  let  us  go  forth  into  the  fields." — Solomon's  Song, 
Chap,  vii,  11. 

This  world's  a  wide  uncultivated  field, 
Through  which  like  weary  travelers  we  pass, 
Unskilled  in  all  the  dangers  of  the  way. 
Deceitful  prospects  open  to  our  view 
To  lead  the  simple  on  to  vain  pursuits. 
Happy  the  man,  that  finds  a  faithful  friend, 
A  kind,  compassionate,  exjierienced  guide. 
With  whom  to  travel  through  this  wilderness, 
Who  knows  where  danger  is,  and  who  can  point 
The  way  to  true  felicity  and  rest. 
O  Jesus !  kind  redeemer,  thou  art  He — 
Thou  wast  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  me. 
Thou  shalt  conduct  me — I  am  wholly  thine. 
And  thou  hast  shown  that  thou  art  wholly  mine. 

No  writings  are  found,  which  give  any  particular  account  of  his  conver- 
sion. But  a  moral  change  of  such  vast  moment,  as  a  transition  from  the 
darkness  and  bondage  of  sin,  into  the  light  and  liberty  of  those  who  are 
regenerated,  is  an  event  which  cannot  but  excite  a  strong  desire  to  know 
how  such  a  moral  revolution  is  eflTected.  But  "  the  wind  bloweth  where  it 
listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
Cometh  and  whither  it  goeth  : "  to  this  declaration  our  Divine  Teacher 
adds — "  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit." 

Everyone  possessing  genuine  piety  is  born  of  God,  having  been 
renewed  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     But  to  ascertain  and  point  out  the  mode 


36  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

of  operation  by  which  this  divine  agent  eftects  such  a  moral  change  in 
the  hearts  of  sinful  men,  is  a  matter  greatly  overvalued :  and  to  judge 
of  the  reality  of  tliis  spiritual  renovation,  by  the  circumstances  which 
precede  and  accompany  it,  and  with  positiveness  as  some  do,  is  both 
preposterous  and  antiscriptural.  Such  not  only  assume  a  wisdom  above 
"what  is  written,"  but  oppose  the  bil)le,  by  their  traditions.  That  this 
last  proposition  is  not  unfoimded,  let  it  be  considered  that  the  bible 
gives  us  scarcely  any  account  of  the  manner  how  the  ancient  saints  were 
converted.  AVhile  their  holy  characters  are  represented  in  a  manner 
most  striking,  and  in  colors  the  most  vivid ;  and  wliile  faitli,  the  fear  of 
God,  holiness,  and  all  the  virtues  and  graces  of  the  christian  character, 
are  not  only  clearly  defined  in  precepts,  but  illustrated  in  the  examples 
of  holy  men  of  old  ;  where  do  we  find  one  specimen  iu  the  bible  of  what 
is  called  the  work  of  conviction,  unless  very  briefly  stated,  and  without 
any  particulars? 

Saul  of  Tarsus,  the  Philippian  jailor,  Lydia,  and  the  numerous  con- 
verts to  Christianity  in  Jerusalem  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  are  almost  all, 
if  not  the  whole  number,  of  the  instances  of  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  on  the  conscience,  usually  termed  conviction,  which  are  recorded 
in  sacred  history.  These  cases  are  stat(;d  in  the  briefest  and  mcjst  gen- 
eral terms,  and  without  any  recital  of  circumstances. 

Such  silence  on  this  subject  furnishes  conclusive  proof  that  the  spirit 
of  infinite  wisdom  regarded  the  holy  example  of  good  men,  and  the 
illustration  of  holiness  by  their  conduct,  and  the  emotions  of  their  hearts 
expressed  in  their  prayers  and  praises,  as  inexpressiV)ly  more  instructive 
to  us  than  any  representation  of  the  mode  by  which  their  souls  were 
turned  from  the  death  of  sin  to  spiritual  life.  Life  and  activity  are 
unquestional  proof  of  a  man's  birth. 

So  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit ;  "  love,  joy,  peace,  long-sutteriug,  gentleness, 
goodness,  teniperance,  faith,  meekness,"  give  the  most  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  all  who  possess  these  moral  qualities  are  born  of  God. 
According  to  this  rule  of  judgment,  but  very  few  of  the  professed  disci- 
23les  of  Jesus  Christ  have  given  more  decided  evidence  that  they  were 
the  subjects  of  the  new  birth,  than  was  seen  in  Mr.  Daggett. 

Having  completed  his  studies  in  college,  Mr.  Daggett  commenced 
reading  theology,  under  the  direction  of  that  distinguished  divine,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Nathaniel  Emmons  of  Franklin,  Mass.  The  peculiar  sentiments 
of  Dr.  Emmons,  in  connection  with  his  uncommon  clearness  of  intellect, 
and  very  perspicuous  mode  of  writing,  have  made  him  a  divine  of  great 
celebrity.  His  amiableness  as  a  christian  and  his  talents  were  held  in 
high  estimation  by  Mr.  Daggett,  But,  however  much  he  venerated  the 
man,  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that  he,  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
adopted  all  tlie  peculiarities  of  his  instructor's  doctrinal  tenets.  If  Mr. 
Daggett  did  imbibe  them,  his  preaching  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
never  indicated  it.  In  his  communications  from  the  desk,  and  in  his 
more  private  religious  instructions,  he  was  remarkable  for  an  entire  free- 
dom from  any  thing  of  polemical  divinity. 

Dr.  Emmons  ever  held  Mr.  Daggett  in  liigh  esteem  ;  and  this  aifection 
and  friendshijj  met  in  return  with  the  cordial  respect  and  gratitude  of 
his  pupil. 

In  October  1789  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  as  we  learn  in  the  following 
extract  of  a  letter  to  an  intimate  female  friend.  He  writes :  "  Wednesday 
7  inst.  I  attended  the  Association  at  North  Bridge ;  was  examined, 
received  recommendation,  and  last  Sabbath  I  spent  at  Franklin. 

"  1  feel  in  some  measure  the  importance  of  that  work  U])on  which  I 
have  entered ;  at  the  same  time  my  insufficiency  and  unworthiness,  and 
can  say  with  the  prophet — '  Ah !  Lord  I  cannot  speak,  for  I  am  a  child.' 


VISIT    TO    THE    CHEROKEE    NATION.  3*7 

Yet  necessity  is  laid  upon  me,  and  I  must  "o  forward,  and  with  the  apos- 
tle I  know  that  through  t^hrist  strengthenino;  me  I  can  do  all  things. 
I  do  not  wish  to  go  back,  but  thank  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  who  hath 
enaliled  me,  for  that  he  counted  me  faithful,  putting  me  into  the  minis- 
try.— My  dearest  Sister — will  you  give  me  your  prayers  ? " 

Mr.  Daggett  was  ever  remarkable,  as  all  his  acquaintance  will  bear  tes- 
timony, for  simplicity  and  sincerity  in  what  he  said  or  wrote.  Never 
would"  he  use  words  without  meaning,  as  some  do.  What  he  expressed, 
lie  believed  and  felt.  Very  deeply  did  he  feel  the  vast  responsibility  of 
a  minister  of  Christ — of  an  ambassador  of  the  King  of  Kings,  whose 
duty  is  to  urge  sinners  to  become  reconciled  to  God.  Were  all,  who 
enter  upon  this  most  solemn  service  of  God's  altar,  to  feel  their  respon- 
sibility to  their  final  judge,  as  we  believe  this  young  candidate  for  the 
ministry  did;  and  be  regardless  of  mercenary  and  personal  considera- 
tions as  he  appears  to  have  been, — relying  entirely  on  the  Lord  Jesus  for 
righteousness,  spiritual  strength,  and  success  in  their  work;  what  a  glo- 
rious accession  of  energy  would  be  seen  in  the  church.  How  beautiful, 
and  how  strong,  yea,  how  impregnable  would  be  the  walls  of  Zion  ! — 
Then  tlie  church  would  "  look  forth  as  the  morning,  tair  as  the  moon, 
clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  Ijiinners." 

May  thousands  of  such  ministers  be  brought  forward,  speedily,  by  the 
exalted  head  of  the  church. 

During  all  his  life,  Mr.  Daggett  suffered  much  bodily  infirmity.  His 
lucid  and  sound  mind  was  united  to  a  corporeal  system  so  frail  that  it 
was  wonderful  that  he  was  so  useful  to  society  for  so  many  years. 

For  about  twenty  years  or  more,  he  was  able  to  preach  for  the  most 
part,  and  also  to  instruct  youth.  For  two  years  and  a  half  he  preached 
as  a  candidate  very  acceptably  in  various  places;  but  chiefly  on  Long 
Island.  He  went  there,  soon  after  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  with 
hope  of  receiving  benefit  to  his  health,  l)y  inlialing  the  mild  and  salu- 
brious air  of  that  island ;  and  his  health  was  improved.  He  spent  a 
year  at  Southhold,  a  town  on  the  north  shore,  where  he  received  from 
the  Presbyterian  church  and  society  a  unanimous  invitation  to  be  their 
pastor.     But  for  reasons,  not  now  known,  he  did  not  accejit  it. 

Col.  Benjamin  Gold  and  wife  visited  their  daughter  Harriet, 
who  married  the  Cherokee,  Boudinot,  at  her  home  in  the  Cherokee 
nation  in  Georgia,  making  the  trip  in  a  one-horse  wagon,  and 
writes  thence  to  his  brother  Hezekiah  his  impressions.  To  get  a 
correct  view,  we  must  look  on  all  sides. 

New  Echota,  Cherokee  Nation,  8th  Dec,  1829. 
Dear  Brother:  We  arrived  here  on  the  37th  day  of  October,  47 
days  on  our  journey — we  might  have  performed  the  journey  sooner — but 
we  chose  not  to  be  in  haste,  and  to  give  ourselves  time  to  view  the 
country  and  get  acquainted  with  the  people  by  the  way,  and  moderately 
drive  our  horse,  as  a  thousand  miles  is  a  pretty  serious  journey  for  a 
horse,  and  to  carry  as  much  of  a  load  as  we  had.  But  by  a  merciful 
Providence  we  were  upheld  and  wonderfully  supported  all  the  way — in 
good  health  and  good  spirits.  We  are  now  in  good  health,  and  can  say 
with  truth  that  now — nearly  three  mouths  since  we  left  home — has  been 
as  pleasant  and  interesting  as  any  part  of  our  lives.  We  traveled 
through  a  very  pleasant  part  of  the  countiy — from  Newburgh  through 
Orange  county  into  New  Jersey ;  then  into  Pennsylvania,  through  Eas- 
ton,  Lancaster,  Reading,  Bethlehem,  and  many  other  large  and  beautiful 


38  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

villages  in  Pennsylvania;  then  throngh  a  small  part  of  Maryland,  and 
over  the  Potomac,  about  30  miles  north  of  Baltimore;  then  into  the 
great  State  of  Virginia,  four  hundred  miles ;  then  into  Tennessee  about 
200  miles;  then  crossed  the  Highwassey  River  at  a  place  called  Calhoon 
into  the  Cherokee  Nation,  vs^here  an  agent  of  the  United  States  resides 
to  manage  the  Indian  concerns  of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  We  put  up  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Lewis  Ross,  one  of  the  princijial  chiefs  of  tlie  Cherokee 
Nation;  being  a  very  rainy  day,  we  tarried  there  two  nights.  His 
house  is  an  elegant  white  house  near  the  bank  of  the  river,  neatly  fur- 
nished as  almost  any  in  Litchtield  county  ;  his  family  of  four  pretty 
children,  the  eldest  a  daughter  of  about  12  years,  attending  a  high 
school  in  Tennessee,  appears  well  as  any  girl  of  her  age.  Mr.  Ross, 
a  brother  of  the  j^rincipal  chief,  has  two  or  three  large  stores,  no  doubt 
independent ;  has  negroes  enough  to  wait  on  us ;  made  us  very  welcome ; 
said  he  would  take  nothing  of  any  one  who  had  connections  in  the 
Nation.  He  is  part  Cherokee — his  wife  a  white  woman  of  the  Meigs 
family,  but  you  would  not  suspect  him  or  his  children  to  be  any  part 
Indian.  We  then  traveled  about  20  miles,  and  came  to  a  Mr.  McVann's, 
a  white  man  who  married  a  Cherokee  woman,  sister  of  Mr.  Joseph  Vaun, 
another  Cherokee  chief.  He  has  a  beautiful  white  house,  and  about  six 
or  seven  hundred  acres  of  the  best  land  you  ever  saw,  and  negroes 
enough  to  manage  it  and  clear  as  much  more  as  he  pleases ;  raised  this 
year  about  live  thousand  bushels  of  corn ;  and  it  would  make  you  feel 
small  to  see  his  situation.  Mr.  McVann  lives  in  a  large  elegant  brick 
house,  and  elegantly  furnished.  We  staid  there  over  night,  and  he 
would  take  nothing  of  us.  We  have  considerable  acquaintance  Avith 
most  of  the  principal  men  of  the  Nation.  We  were  here  two  or  three 
weeks  while  the  Council  were  in  session,  and  were  introduced  to  all  of 
them,  and  became  familiar  with  most  of  them.  We  have  traveled  about 
100  miles  in  the  Nation,  visited  three  mission  stations,  and  are  much 
pleased  with  the  missionaries;  have  seen  most  of  them  and  become 
acquainted.  Mr.  Boudinott  has  much  good  company,  and  is  as  much 
resjjected  as  any  man  of  his  age.  His  paper  is  respectable  all  over  the 
United  States,  and  known  in  Europe;  has  about  100  newspapers  sent 
him  from  the  different  parts  of  the  United  States  by  way  of  exchange; 
so  that  you  may  perceive  we  have  an  interesting  stand,  where  we  have 
the  news  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  We  are  in  good  health,  and 
likewise  Mr.  Boudinott  and  his  family.  They  have  two  beautiful  and 
interesting  children ;  would  pass  in  company  for  full-blooded  Yankees. 
My  wife  says  she  thinks  they  are  rather  handsomer  than  any  she  has 
seen  at  the  north ;  am  uncertain  when  we  shall  return  to  Conn.  Har- 
riet says  she  well  remembers  the  conversation  with  Dr.  Gold,  and  he 
labored  with  her  to  dissuade  her  from  her  purpose,  he  supposing  she 
was  going  to  place  herself  in  an  unhappy  situation ;  but  she  wishes  you 
to  present  her  regards  to  the  Doctor,  and  tell  him  that  she  has  never  yet 
seen  the  time  that  she  regretted  coming  here  in  the  manner  she  did,  but 
has  ever  rejoiced  that  she  placed  herself  here;  that  she  envies  the  situa- 
tion of  no  one  in  Conn.  She  has  a  large  and  convenient  framed  house, 
two  stories,  30  by  40  feet  on  the  ground,  well  done  off,  and  well  furnished 
with  the  comforts  of  life ;  they  get  their  supplies  of  clothes  and  groceries 
— they  have  their  year's  store  of  teas,  cloths,  paper,  ink,  &c.,  from  Bos- 
ton, and  their  sugars,  molasses,  »&c.,  from  Augusta ;  they  have  two  or 
three  barrels  of  flour  on  hand  at  once.  This  neighborhood  is  truly  an 
interesting  and  pleasant  place;  the  ground  is  level  and  smooth  as  a 
house-floor;  the  center  of  the  Nation — a  new  place,  laid  out  in  city 
form — 100  lots  one  acre  each — a  spring  called  the  public  spring,  about 


CREAM    HILL    AGRICUI-TURAL    SCHOOL. ADELPHIC    INSTITUTE.        39 

twice  as  large  as  our  saw-mill  brook,  near  the  center,  with  other  springs 
on  the  plat;  six  new  framed  houses  in  sight,  besides  a  Council  House, 
Court  House,  printing  office,  and  four  stores,  all  in  sight  of  Mr.  B.'s 
house ;  but  the  stores  are  continued  only  during  the  session  of  the 
Council,  and  then  removed  to  other  parts  of  the  Nation — except  one, 
steadily  continued.  The  stores  in  the  Nation  are  as  large  as  the  best  in 
our  towns  in  Litchfield  county — their  large  wagons  of  six  horses  go  to 
Augusta  and  bring  a  great  load ;  and  you  will  see  a  number  of  them 
together.  There  is  much  travel  through  this  place.  I  have  seen  eleven 
of  those  large  wagons  pass  by  Mr.  Boudinot's  house  in  company.  John 
Ridge*  was  clerk  of  the  Cherokee  Council,  and  is  now  clerk  of  a  Creek 
Delegation  to  Congress  for  the  winter,  and  likely  will  get  his  five  or  ten 
thousand  dollars,  as  he  did  liefore.  The  Cherokee  delegation  has  gone 
on  to  Congress  again  this  winter.  I  could  tell  you  many  pleasant  things 
about  the  country,  but  for  fear  you  may  not  be  able  to  read,  or  get  tired, 
I  must  close  by  telling  you  that  you  must  give  our  love  to  your  family 
and  friends,  and  accept  the  kind  regards  of  your  aftectionate 

Brother,  B.  Gold. 

CREAM    HILL    AGRICULTURAL    SCHOOL, 

was  established  in  May,  1845,  by  Dr.  S.  W.  &  T.  S.  Gold,  at 
their  farm  on  Cream  Hill,  and  continued  till  April,  1869,  twenty- 
four  years. 

At  the  beginning  there  were  bnt  four  pupils,  afterwards 
increased  to  twenty,  the  limit  of  the  school.  The  object  was  to 
unite,  with  classical  and  scientific  education,  theoretical  and  prac- 
tical instruction  in  agriculture  :  to  encourage  a  taste  for  the  pur- 
suits of  rural  life,  to  develop  and  strengthen  the  body  as  well  as 
the  mind.  The  results  of  the  plan  were  eminently  satisfactory, 
and  we  look  with  pleasure  upon  our  pupils,  scattered  everywhere, 
in  positions  of  honor  and  usefulness,  but  especially  in  the  record 
of  those  who,  in  the  opening  of  their  manhood,  took  up  arms  in 
defense  of  their  country,  is  our  especial  delight  and  pride,  while 
with  tender  hearts  we  recall  those  who  were  permitted  to  offer 
their  lives  a  sacrifice  that  the  nation  might  live. 

THE    ADELPHIC    INSTITUTE. 

Mr.  Ambrose  Rogers,  a  native  of  Cornwall,  and  a  graduate  of 
Union  College,  opened  a  family  boarding  school,  with  the  above 
title,  at  North  Cornwall  in  1847,  and  continued  there  until  1860, 
when  he  removed  his  school  to  New  Milford,  where  he  taught  till 
Sept.,  1876,  a  total  of  thirty-nine  years.  His  house  was  always 
full. 

*  The  other  Indian  who  married  a  Cornwall  girL  Sarah  Northrup. 


40  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 


SCHOOL    OF    W.    C.    AND    MISS    L.    ROGERS. 

In  1852,  Mr.  Wm.  C.  Rogers,  succeeded  by  Ms  sister,  Miss  Lydia 
Rogers,  opened  a  school  for  young  ladies,  with  good  prospects,  at 
the  residence  of  their  father,  near  the  church  in  North  Cornwall. 
They  had  about  one  dozen  pupils,  but  closed  after  two  years, 

NOAH    AND    BURTON    HARt's    SCHOOL. 

In  the  spring  of  1853,  Noah  R.  Hart,  assisted  by  his  brother, 
E.  Burton  Hart,  established  a  private  boarding  school  for  boys, 
on  the  place  now  owned  and  occupied  by  the  latter,  in  West  Corn- 
wall. Both  had  previous  experience  in  the  instruction  of  youth 
in  the  district  schools  of  the  town.  Their  efforts  in  the  boarding 
school  were  crowned  with  success,  being  sustained  by  a  choice 
and  generous  patronage  from  New  York  city,  while  from  Maine 
to  Texas  and  California  nearly  all  sections  of  the  Union  were 
represented  by  pupils. 

In  the  spring  of  1857,  Noah  R.  Hart  left  the  school  to  engage 
in  the  mercantile  business  with  his  brother,  Julius  L.  Hart,  in 
West  Goshen,  Conn.  E.  Burton  Hart,  then  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  continued  the  school  with  unabated  prosperity,  and  soon 
through  the  kindness  of  his  friend  and  patron,  Horace  Webster, 
LL.D.,  Principal  of  the  New  York  Free  Academy,  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  Bachelor  and  Master  of  Arts,  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont. 

In  the  spring  of  1863,  he  discontinued  the  school  and  gave  his 
personal  attention  to  the  produce  business,  in  New  York  City,  in 
which  he  was  engaged  some  five  years  in  company  with  his 
youngest  brother,  G-eorge  S.  Hart.  This  enterprise  has  also 
proved  very  successful.  The  firm  now,  George  S.  Hart  &  Howell, 
with  warehouses  33,  35,  and  38  Pearl  street,  and  22  and  24  Bridge 
street.  New  York  City,  is  second  to  no  house  in  this  country,  in 
the  magnitude  and  success  of  its  business. 

THE    YOUNG    LADIES'    INSTITUTE    (biRDS'    NEST). 

Mr.  Hopkins  T.  S.  Johnson,  an  influential  member  of  the  fourth 
school  district,  feeling  aggrieved  at  the  action  of  the  district  in 
school  matters,  withdrew  from  all  support  of  the  public  school, 
erected  a  commodious  school  building  near  his  dwelling,  in  John- 
son Hollow,  employed  teachers  and  opened  a  school  in  1852, 
mostly  for  young  ladies. 


THE    ALGER    INSTITUTE.  41 

The  first  term  began  in  May  with  twenty  pupils,  under  the 
charge  of  Misses  L.  S.  Kellogg  and  P.  O.  Sanford,  with  Miss  M. 
J.  Everest,  teacher  of  music. 

Mr.  Johnson  died  December  22,  1852,  aged  thirty  years,  but  the 
school  was  continued  by  his  widow,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Johnson,  till 
1859,  when  her  failing  health  compelled  her  to  relinquish  the 
charge.  Mrs.  Johnson  died  February  6,  1861,  aged  thirty-seven 
years. 

Miss  Mary  J.  Murdock,  a  graduate  of  Mt.  Holyoke,  afterwards 
wife  of  George  R.  Gold,  Miss  Sarah  C.  Bliss,  Miss  Caroline  Went 
worth,  Miss  Josephine  H.  Barton,  Miss  Clara  Vaill,  Miss  Mary  C. 
Cleveland,  and  Prof.  G.  D.  Wilson,  were  valuable  teachers  em- 
ployed by  Mrs.  Johnson,  and  under  their  charge  the  enterprise 
enjoyed  merited  success. 

The  memories  of  "Our  Birds'  Nest,"  are  cherished  by  many 
scattered  here  and  there  in  our  land,  as  among  the  brightest  and 
happiest  associations  of  their  lives. 

THE    ALGER    INSTITUTE, 

located  at  Cornwall,  was  commenced  November,  1847,  and 
completed  May  1,  1848,  was  built  by  subscription  by  Joshua 
Peirce,  John  Miles,  Seth  Peirce,  Charles  Alger,  Frederick  Kellogg, 
E.  W.  Andrews,  B.  B.  North,  D.  W.  Pierce,  and  E.  F.  Gold  at  a 
cost  of  about  $5,000.00. 

It  was  named  the  Alger  Institute  after  Charles  Alger,  Pludson, 
N.  Y.,  but  with  small  endowment  from  him  for  its  name. 

The  building  was  used  for  a  boarding  school  by  E.  W.  Andrews 
as  principal,  James  Sedgwick  of  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  and 
Oliver  St.  John  of  Easton,  Pa.,  as  assistants.  It  was  a  very 
successful  school  for  several  years,  when  it  was  sold  by  E.  W. 
Andrews  to  Wait  Griswold  of  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  under  whose 
administration  it  drooped.  It  was  sold  again  to  Rev.  Ira  Petti- 
bone  of  Winchester,  Conn.,  who  kept  a  flourishing  school  for 
four  years.  It  was  then  sold  to  L.  F.  Dudley,  who  started  a 
school,  and  after  about  one  year  it  was  given  up,  since  which  time 
it  has  been  used  as  a  boarding  house  for  summer  boarding. 


42  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

HISTORICAL   SKETCHES   OF   THE    CHURCHES    OF 
CORNWALL,   CONN. 

BY     REV.    TIMOTHY     STONE. 

Sketches  of  tlie  Ecclesiastical  history  of  Cornwall,  commencing 
at  the  settlement  of  the  town,  and  continued  to  1849,  are  presented 
to  the  reader  of  the  following  pages.  A  continuous  narrative  of 
events  will  be  necessarily  and  not  unfrequently  interrupted  after 
the  town  was  divided  into  two  religious  societies,  so  that  it  will  be 
requisite  at  one  time  to  advert  to  one  of  them  and  then  to  another. 

Congregationalists  have  ever  formed  the  mass  of  the  population 
of  Cornwall  and  of  Connecticut;  they  therefore  will  be  chiefly 
brought  to  view.  The  Episcopal,  Methodist,  and  Baptist  denomi- 
nations are  also  to  be  exhibited,  so  far  as  information  has  been  re- 
ceived; much  effort  having  been  made  to  obtain  it,  but  not  so 
successfully  as  the  widter  desired.     Of  them  but  little  is  known. 

Connecticut  Congregationalists,  who  are  not  so  democratic  in 
their  church  government  as  those  of  Massachusetts,  have  been 
termed  by  many,  Presbyterians.  Some  of  the  first  ministers  of 
this  State,  as  the  Rev.  Samuel  Stone  of  Hartford,  the  colleague  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Hooker,  were  partial  to  Presbyterian  church  government ; 
and  tlie  church  of  Hartford,  the  oldest  in  Connecticut,  was  regu- 
lated by  ruling  Elders,  as  some  others  were.  But  soon,  all  the 
churches  adopted  more  democratic  principles,  and  the  majority  of 
the  brotherhood  in  a  church,  decided  every  thing  in  its  internal 
concerns  without  such  rulers.  Still  the  churches  generally  (for 
there  were  some  exceptions)  were  united  in  consociations,  by  which 
adjacent  christian  communities  were  so  far  amenable  to  each  other 
as  to  be  liable  to  public  censure,  in  case  of  heresy,  scandalous  and 
unchristian  conduct,  and  schisms.  But  no  censure  could  extend 
farther  than  the  declaration  of  non-communion  with  the  offending 
church.  Such  are  the  principles  of  the  Saybrook  platform  so 
often  spoken  of,  which  was  formed  1708.  The  Massacliusetts 
churches,  according  to  the  Cambridge  platform  established  in 
1648,  are  not  at  all  consociated,  but  each  individual  church  is 
regarded  as  entirely  independent.  Thus,  the  Congregational 
churches  of  this  State  in  some  measure  approximate  to  Presby- 
terianism.  The  Presbyterians  ai'e  governed  by  ruling  Elders,  and 
are  united  in  Presbyteries,  and  Synods,  and  are  subject  to  the  de- 
cisions of  the  General  Assembly  that  meets  annually,  to  whom 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  43 

appeals  may  be  made  from  all  inferior  church  judicatories,  in  all 
cases  of  duty  and  conscience,  and  whose  decisions  are  final;  ex- 
cepting, that  a  case  may  be  referred  to  all  the  Presbyteries,  the 
majority  of  whom  may  reverse  any  act  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Without  any  attempt  to  show  whether  the  Congregational  or 
the  Presbyterian  church  discipline  is  the  most  accordant  with  the 
word  of  God,  it  is  obvious,  that  Connecticut  Congregationalism  is 
somewhat  of  a  medium  between  these  two  forms  of  ecclesiastical 
polity.  The  Evangelical  Congregational ists  of  New  England, 
forming  a  large  majority  of  the  denomination,  are  united  with 
the  Presbyterian  church  in  doctrinal  sentiments,  the  Westminster 
catechism  being,  next  to  the  Bible,  the  standard  of  their  faith. 
Hence,  Congregationalists  have  been  often  termed,  though  incor- 
rectly, Presbyterians,  while  in  church  government  they  are 
essentially  different. 

There  is  a  class  in  our  community,  too  large  in  number  for  the 
credit,  and  it  is  feared  the  safety  of  Connecticut,  who  ridicule  the 
character  and  sneer  at  the  opinions  and  conduct  of  the  puritanical 
fathers  of  New  England.  Such  are  corrupt  in  principle,  betray- 
ing great  ignorance  of  facts,  while  they  are  chargeable  with  base 
ingratitude  toward  their  ancestors.  Very  unnatural  is  such  a 
disposition.  Little  do  they  consider  their  obligations  to  their 
ancient  benefactors  whom  they  vilify,  to  whom  they  are  indebted 
for  that  peace,  good  order,  and  general  prosperity  which  they 
enjoy.  "But  wisdom  will  be  justified  of  her  children."  Not- 
withstanding some  acknowledged  defects,  our  fathers  of  Connecti- 
cut and  of  New  England,  were  generally  a  noble,  and  even  a 
superior  race.  They  hated  and  ever  frowned  on  vice.  Their 
laws  against  every  species  of  immorality  were  very  strict,  and  they 
were  enforced  too.  Demagogues  had  far  less  influence  than  in 
more  modern  days.  A  man  who  ardently  desired  office,  and  strove 
to  gratify  aml)ition  was  not  often  successful.  The  aged  were 
honored,  and  magistrates  duly  respected,  far  more  than  now. 
They  believed  the  Bible.  They  were  not  sceptical  in  regard  to 
the  fundamental  principles  of  christian  doctrines  and  morals. 
This  was  eminently  their  character.  Like  our  great  and  immortal 
Father  of  the  American  republic,  and  the  late  excellent  President 
Harrison,  they  were  firm  in  their  convictions  that  Christianity  was 
the  only  basis  of  sound  morals.  Hence,  our  puritanical  fathers 
laid  the  foundation  of  all  that  respect  to  law,  good  order,  and 
regularity  and  peace  in   society,   for  which  Massachusetts,   Con- 


44  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

necticut,  and  the  New  England  states  have  been  distinguished. 
Their  personal  character,  as  for  the  virtues  of  fortitude,  heroic 
constancy  in  duty,  public  spirit,  and  love  to  their  coiintry,  was 
highly  commendable,  and  has  never  lieen  surpassed  in  any  human 
community.  In  comparison  with  them,  their  descendants  in  these 
respects  are,  with  few  exceptions,  no  more  than  pigijues.  In  olden 
times,  the  laws  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  required  that  if 
the  inhabitants  of  a  new  plantation,  containing  a  certain  number 
of  people,  did  not  support  public  worship,  a  gospel  minister,  and 
schools,  the  authority  of  the  State  would  interpose,  and  enforce  on 
them  such  institutions  at  their  expense.  But  it  is  not  known  that 
such  cases  were  ever  brought  to  an  extremity;  they  were  at  least 
very  rare;  the  inhabitants  of  new  settlements  were  like  those  of 
Cornwall,  ready  to  anticipate  the  desires  of  their  rulers.  No  per- 
son was  obliged  to  make  a  public  profession  of  religion ;  but  every 
one  was  required  to  attend  the  public  worship  of  God  on  the 
Sabbath,  unless  a  reasonable  excuse  could  be  rendered.  These 
laws  were  formed  and  executed  by  rulers  chosen  by  the  majority 
of  freemen,  who  were  led  and  guided  by  leaders  of  their  own 
choice.  The  magistrates  and  religious  teachers  did  not,  as  unprin- 
cipled demagogues  ever  do,  attempt  to  blindfold  the  people  by 
artifice ;  but  on  the  contrary,  they  endeavored  to  open  as  wide  as 
possible  the  avenues  to  knowledge,  that  all  might  learn  and  fully 
know  what  was  the  direct  and  straight  road  to  their  highest 
happiness.  These  leaders  regarded  schools  of  learning,  the  Sab- 
bath public  worship,  and  christian  instruction,  of  infinite  value. 
It  is  true  that  oiir  forefathers  had  less  correct  ideas  of  religious 
toleration  than  we  have.  At  the  same  time,  they  were  far  less 
intolerant,  and  far  less  of  a  persecuting  spirit  than  their  enemies 
have  represented  tliem  to  be.  They  were  nmch  more  tolerant 
than  almost  all  the  civilized  nations  of  that  period  of  time.  There 
were  those  among  our  forefathers,  who  upon  pretence  of  religious 
liberty,  went  through  the  streets  naked,  both  men  and  women,  who 
broke  into  public  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  and  were  guilty  of 
outrage.  Ought  not  such  to  have  been  punished  ?  Should  not 
such  be  severely  punished  now  ?  Such  were  whipped,  as  they 
surely  should  have  been.  They  were  banished  from  the  Common- 
wealth on  penalty  of  death  if  they  returned. 

Our  fathers  were  not  perfect  men ;  but  they  were  beyond  expres- 
sion superior  in  moral  character  to  their  slanderers  and  very  ma- 
lignant  revilers. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  45 

The  first  settlers  of  this  town  were  possessed  of  the  general  traits 
of  the  New  England  Puritans.  They  were  hold,  daring,  and 
resolute  men.  It  required  no  small  share  of  courage  and  heroic 
fortitude  to  establish  a  permanent  settlement  among  these  moun- 
tains and  deep  valleys,  all  densely  covered  with  heavy  timber  and 
thick  underbrush. 

There  is  not  evidence  of  any  permanent  inhabitants  in  Cornwall 
until  1739,  in  the  summer  of  which  year  several  families  came  that 
remained  through  the  succeeding  winter.  This  winter  was  severe 
almost  without  a  parallel.  Throughout  New  England  the  earth 
was  for  many  months  covered  with  many  feet  of  snow,  and  the 
cold  was  intense.  This  was  called  the  hard  winter.  These  new 
settlers  had  a  few  months  before  left  comfortable  habitations  in 
the  older  towns,  and  entered  the  dense  forest  little  anticipating  so 
tremendous  a  winter.  Their  stores  of  provision  were  scanty,  as 
they  could  not  have  produced  much  food  the  summer  preceding, 
on  their  lands.  They  expected  aid  from  their  former  homes,  and 
from  their  friends  there.  But  the  huge  snow-banks  shut  them  in 
their  log  cabins  for  many  weeks.  It  was  impossible  to  travel  to 
the  towns  adjacent  but  on  snow-shoes.  Several  of  the  people  were 
located  far  apart  from  each  other.  The  exact  number  of  families 
that  continued  through  the  winter  of  1739-40,  is  not  known. 
Probably  there  were  not  far  from  twenty  or  twenty-five.  Had 
not  deer  been  abounding,  that  could  be  easily  caught  by  hunters 
on  their  snow-shoes  while  the  animals  were  helpless  and  wallowing 
in  the  deep  snow  banks,  many  of  these  settlers  would,  in  all  proba- 
ability,  have  perished  by  hunger  and  privation.  One  small  child 
died  from  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  In  addition  to  the  priva- 
tions unavoidably  incident  to  the  pioneers  of  a  new  settlement  in 
the  forests,  our  fathers  were  near  the  habitations  of  the  savage 
dwellers  of  the  wilderness,  whose  friendship  could  be,  for  the 
most,  confided  in  no  further  than  the  Indians  feared  the  superior- 
ity of  their  white  neighbors.  It  is  true  that  the  aborigines  at 
Kent,  Sharon,  and  Salisbury,  had  been  instructed  by  a  few  pious 
missionaries,  which  tended  no  doubt  to  furnish  greater  security 
to  the  first  settlers  here  and  in  the  vicinity.  A  few  rods  northeast 
of  the  mansion  of  the  late  Oliver  Burnham,  Esq.,  a  palisaded  fort 
was  erected  for  a  public  storehouse  of  provisions,  and  a  place  of 
defense  in  case  of  a  sudden  attack,  and  where  ammunition  was  de- 
posited.    But  Cornwall  was  never  assaulted  by  enemies. 

No  sooner  was  that  hard  winter  gone,  and  the  vernal  sun  began 


46  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

to  shine  on  the  few  openings  in  the  wilderness  of  these  high  moun- 
tains and  deep  valleys,  than  the  people,  having  been  sustained  in 
their  hardships  by  the  kind  hand  of  God,  resolved  to  prepare  im- 
mediately for  the  public  worship,  and  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  the 
preaching  of  the  word  of  the  God  of  their  fathers.  They  employed 
a  Mr.  Harrison,  who  seems  to  have  been  taught  and  graduated 
about  1737,  at  Yale  College,  to  preach  to  them.  From  whence  he 
came,  and  whither  he  went  when  he  left  Cornwall,  it  is  not  known. 
He  was  the  first  who  exhibited  on  these  mountains  the  good  news 
of  salvation. 

At  the  May  session  of  the  Legislature  at  Hartford,  1740,  the 
town  was  incorporated. 

On  the  1st  of  July  following,  the  inhabitants  met,  and  accord- 
ing to  law  constituted  themselves  a  legal  community.  Whether 
they  assembled  in  a  log  cabin,  or  under  a  wide-spreading  tree,  is 
not  known.  Probably  they  met  near  the  house  of  Darius  Miner. 
Having  chosen  George  Hollo  way,  Esq.,  to  be  their  clerk,  and  the 
other  town  officers  having  been  appointed,  they  commenced  their 
public  business. 

Now  what  was  the  first  public  conduct  of  the  fathers  of  this 
town  ?  Surely,  it  was  such  as  will  surprise  many,  and  all  such 
as  despise  religious  institutions,  who  disregard  the  Sabbath,  and 
consider  the  support  of  the  gospel  ministry  as  a  great  burden.  But 
these  fathers  of  Cornwall  were  trained  up  to  believe  that  the  Most 
High  God  was  to  be  publicly  honored, — that  his  protecting  provi- 
dence and  favor  were  of  infinite  importance ;  therefore,  the  first 
vote  of  the  first  town  meeting  was  in  these  words:  '^  Voted,  That 
the  whole  charge  of  Mr.  Harrison's  preaching  amongst  us,  together 
with  the  charge  of  bringing  him  here  and  boarding  him,  we  will 
pay  out  of  the  first  tax  that  shall  be  assessed." 

The  next  vote  in  this  meeting  was:  "  Voted,  We  will  send  Mr. 
Millard  to  agree  with  a  minister,  and  bring  him  to  preach  amongst 
us."  And  also,  "  Voted,  That  said  Millard  do  advise  the  ministers 
what  sort  of  a  man  to  bring  to  preach  amongst  us."  At  this  meet- 
ing it  was  also  "  Voted,  That  we  think  it  necessary  and  convenient 
to  build  a  meeting-house;"  which  vote  was  unanimous  to  a  man. 

Mr.  Millard  not  being  successful  in  obtaining  a  preacher,  seven 
weeks  after  that  first  town  meeting  the  inhabitants  again  assem- 
bled, 18th  of  August,  and  renewed  their  efforts  for  a  minister, 
appointing  a  committee  of  George  Holloway,  Joseph  Allen,  and 
Nathaniel  Jewell,  to  secure,  as  soon  as  possible,  a  preacher  to  con- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  47 

tinue  to  them  until  the  first  of  April,  1741,  that  is,  for  seven  or 
eight  months.  And  this  committee  was  directed  to  take  the  advice 
of  neighboring  ministers  in  the  choice  of  such  a  preacher.  At  the 
same  meeting,  it  was  "  Voted,  That  we  will  build  a  meeting-house 
for  public  worship,  48  feet  in  length  and  38  in  breadth,  and  24 
feet  between  joints."  Also,  "  Voted,  That  George  Holloway  shall 
be  an  agent  to  address  the  General  Assembly  at  New  Haven,  Oc- 
tober next,  to  appoint  a  committee  to  state  the  place  where  the 
meeting-house  shall  stand."  Also,  ''Voted,  That  David  Kugg 
should  be  the  chorister  till  we  agree  otherwise."  Also,  "  Voted, 
That  George  Holloway  shall  read  the  Psalm."  Also,  "  Voted,  That 
we  will  meet  for  public  worship  at  Mr.  Samuel  Messenger's  house, 
till  the  town  order  otherwise." 

This  place  was  where  Darius  Miner  resides.  The  people  main- 
tained public  worship  of  God  at  their  settlement  at  the  very  first, 
and  when  they  had  no  preacher.  Psalm-books  were  few;  there- 
fore Mr.  Holloway,  no  doubt,  gave  out  the  psalm  by  reading  to 
the  singers  line  by  line. 

When  and  by  whom  the  church,  the  articles  of  faith,  and  church 
covenant  were  formed,  are  now  entirely  unknown.  Nor  is  it 
known  who  were  the  members  comprising  the  church.  Whether 
such  organization  was  previous  or  subsequent  to  their  first  minis- 
ter's preaching  to  them,  cannot  be  ascertained.  It  is  evident  that 
the  "half-way  covenant,"  so  termed,  which  admitted  persons  of 
good  moral  character  who  publicly  assented  to  the  doctrinal  tenets 
of  the  church,  and  still  did  not  profess  to  believe  that  they  were 
the  subjects  of  regenerating  grace,  to  the  privilege  of  presenting 
their  children  in  baptism,  was  a  practice  of  this  infant  church  of 
Cornwall. 

Whether  any  preacher  was  employed  during  the  winter  of  1740- 
41  is  uncertain,  but  the  people  did  not  "forget  the  assembling  of 
themselves  together"  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  David  Rugg 
continued  their  stated  leader  in  singing. 

The  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer,  of  Branford,  Conn.,  educated  at 
Yale  College,  who  graduated  there  1729,  was  in  the  town  in  the 
spring  of  1741  as  a  preacher. 

On  the  first  Thursday  of  March,  1741,  the  people  met  according 
to  an  adjournment  of  a  meeting  three  months  before,  and  voted 
to  hire  Mr.  Palmer  to  preach  to  them  until  the  first  of  June  as  a 
candidate  for  settlement. 

Ten  weeks  after,   May   24th,   the   town  met  at   the   house  of 


48  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Samuel  Messenger,  and  passed  the  following  vote:  "That  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  neighboring  ministers,  we  will  call  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Solomon  Palmer  to  a  settlement  with  us  in  the  gospel 
ministry  in  this  place."  Such  was  their  deference  to  the  opinion 
of  the  ministers  of  the  vicinity  on  a  subject  of  high  moment: 
certainly  the  union  of  the  ministers  of  Christ  is  essential  to  their 
mutual  usefulness.  They  added  to  this  call,  "  That  we  will  give 
Mr.  Palmer  the  following  salary,  to  be  paid  in  money  equal  in 
silver  at  twenty-eight  shillings  per  ounce,  for  the  first  year,  which 
is  to  begin  at  the  day  of  his  ordination;  £200 — the  half  of  which 
shall  be  paid  at  said  ordination;  the  second  year,  £100;  the  third, 
£110;  and  so  rise  £10  pounds  a  year  till  it  comes  at  £160,  to  be 
paid  annually,  so  long  as  he  continues  in  the  work  of  the  ministry 
in  this  place."  Soon  after,  the  town  granted  Mr.  Palmer  £50 
additional  to  his  settlement  of  £200.  In  addition  to  his  salary 
and  settlement,  Mr.  Palmer  was  entitled  to  a  whole  right  of  land, 
or  what  was  one  fifty -third  share  of  the  town,  the  amount  of  which 
in  land  was  not  far  from  six  hundred  acres.  His  ministerial  sup- 
port was,  according  to  his  circumstances  and  the  state  of  society  as 
it  then  was,  far  superior  to  the  salaries  of  ministers  and  their  sub- 
sistence at  the  present  time.  Also  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Palmer 
were  many  a  fold  more  liberal  in  maintaining  religious  institutions 
than  any  societies  of  this  period  of  time  in  any  section  of  our 
country.  Some  will  no  doubt  be  surprised  at  this  statement;  but 
facts,  amply  supported,  and  figures  cannot  falsify. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  ordained  on  the  second  Wednesday  of  August, 
1741;  this  was  the  time  appointed  by  a  freemen's  town  meeting, 
but  no  records  remain  confirming  this  fact,  nor  anything  relating 
to  the  ordination.  Who  composed  the  ordaining  council  is  \m- 
known.  The  pastors  of  the  churches  of  Litchfield  County  at  that 
period  were  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Jonathan  Marsh,  of  New  Hartford, 
Timothy  Collins,  Litchfield,  Daniel  Boardman,  New  Milford,  An- 
thony Stoddard,  Woodbury,  Andrew  Bartholomew,  Hai'winton, 
Elijah  Webster,  Canaan,  Stephen  Heaton,  Goshen,  Joseph  Bellamy, 
Bethlehem,  Peter  Pratt,  Sharon,  and  Cyrus  Marsh,  Kent. 

The  first  deacons  of  Cornwall  church  were  Jonathan  Harris, 
who  came  from  Derby  and  settled  on  Clark  Hill  near  Goshen ;  and 
Phineas  Waller,  who  emigrated  from  New  Milford,  and  whose 
residence  was  half  a  mile  northwest  from  Deacon  Nathan  Hart's 
on  Waller  Hill. 

For  twelve  years  and  seven  months  Mr.  Palmer  remained  peace- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  49 

fully  with  his  flock,  during  which  time  the  town  increased  in 
population  very  considerably.  No  rcicords  of  the  church  of  those 
years  are  extant,  and  no  list  of  church  communicants. 

Tradition  gives  Mr.  Palmer  the  character  of  a  gentleman,  affable 
and  pleasant  in  manners,  unimpeachal»le  in  his  morals,  and  that  he 
was  united  with  his  ministerial  brethren  in  doctrinal  sentiments 
until  he  became  an  Episcopalian.  That  he  was  a  good  English 
scholar,  the  town  records  of  twelve  years,  during  which  he  was 
town  clerk,  are  evidence,  as  his  handwriting  and  orthography  are 
good  specimens  throughout. 

At  his  settlement  there  had  been  a  very  uncommon  religious 
revival  in  all  New  England,  in  which  Connecticut  enjoyed  a  large 
share.  But  the  pastor  of  Cornwall  did  not  favor  that  religious 
excitement.  It  was  so  with  many  C/onnecticut  ministers.  Before 
Wesley  and  Whitefield  in  England  were  known  in  our  land,  there 
had  been  at  Northampton,  Mass.,  under  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Edwards,  and  in  several  other  places,  a  deep  sense  among  multi- 
tudes of  the  infinite  importance  of  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Eor 
many  years  before  this  revival,  pastors  and  churches  were,  with 
several  happy  exceptions,  cold  and  lifeless  and  almost  entirely 
formal  in  devotion;  a  dead  and  worldly  morality  was  inculcated 
by  many  in  the  sacred  desk;  dangerous  errors  became  prevalent; 
and  as  a  necessary  consequence  immorality  increased.  Pious 
ministers  and  many  devout  Christians  feared  that  the  power  of 
godliness  would  perish  in  the  land  of  the  Puritans.  But  God 
interposed.  He  heard  the  prayers  of  those  who  trembled  for  the 
prosperity  of  the  churches.  He  raised  up  the  pious  father  of 
Jonathan  Edwards.  This  father,  the  minister  of  East  Windsor, 
was  greatly  blessed  in  his  labors,  especially  those  of  his  son  at 
Northampton.  Also  Tennant  in  New  Jersey,  Moody  of  the  dis- 
trict of  Maine,  and  Bellamy  of  Connecticut.  Whitefield  came 
into  our  country,  whose  piety,  holy  zeal,  accompanied  with  an 
eloquence  that  was  scarcely  ever  before  equaled,  drew  the  atten- 
tion of  many  thousands  who  followed  his  preaching  from  town  to 
town.  Multitudes  became  truly  religious.  But  although  this 
excitement  undoubtedly  originated  from  the  force  of  divine  truth 
and  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  yet  there  was  soon  a  great 
degree  of  wild-fire,  disorder,  enthusiasm,  confusion,  and  false 
religion  which  marred  this  revival.  Religion  was  counterfeited. 
There  were  dreams  and  visions  and  hypocritical  imposters.  And 
even  some  pious  people  and  ministers,  too,  were  sadly  deluded 
V 


50  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

into  great  errors  of  conduct.  They  were  led  into  great  extrava- 
gance. Not  a  little  of  the  zeal  of  that  day  was  a  fire  never 
kindled  on  God's  altar. 

As  natural  consequences,  two  terrific  evils  were  immediately 
manifest.  The  first  was,  the  enemies  of  vital  religion  rejoiced  and 
openly  exulted  in  the  confusion  produced  by  enthusiasts.  They 
strengthened  each  other  in  their  opposition  to  the  doctrines  and 
practice  of  godhness.  On  the  other  hand,  some  persons  of  cool 
temperament,  and  whose  fears  of  evil  were  bordering  on  extreme 
caution,  and  who  still  were  the  friends  of  religion,  were  prejudiced 
against  this  extraordinary  excitement.  They  were  astonished  at 
the  extravagances  of  the  enthusiasts,  who  thus  injured  the  cause  of 
truth.  They  did  not  with  candor  discriminate  the  truth  from  the 
errors  and  disorders  of  the  times. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  not  favorable  to  this  religious  revival;  and  it  is 
believed  that  his  church  and  congregation  were  with  him  in  his 
views  on  this  subject. 

The  spiritual  rain  and  dews  of  heaven,  which  descended  so 
copiously  on  many  towns  in  New  England,  and  especially  in 
Connecticut,  were  not  enjoyed  here.  These  mountains  were  like 
those  of  GUboa,  having  had  neither  rain  nor  dew.  The  new 
settlements  of  Litchfield  County  were  not,  unless  the  society  of 
Bethlehem  under  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Bellamy  is  excepted,  much 
blessed  by  the  spirit  of  this  revival. 

The  church  of  Litchfield  did  not  at  all  favor  the  ministers  that 
zealously  advocated  this  revival.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the 
feelings  of  Mr.  Palmer  toward  this  subject,  and  the  irregularities 
and  enthusiasm  accompanying  these  scenes  of  religious  excitement, 
had  influence  on  him  to  become  an  Episcopalian. 

In  March,  1754,  Mr.  I^lmer  declared  on  the  Sabbath,  and  to  the 
great  surprise  of  all  his  people,  that  his  ordination  had  no  validity, 
that  he  was  an  Episcopalian,  and  that  he  now  renounced  his 
ministry  among  them. 

He  preached  from  Joshua  24:  15 — "  And  if  it  seem  unto  you  to 
serve  the  Lord,  choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve;  whether 
the  gods  your  Fathers  served,  that  were  on  the  other  side  of  the 
flood,  or  the  gods  of  the  Amorites,  in  which  land  ye  dwell ;  but  as 
for  me  and  my  house  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 

There  were  but  few  Episcopalians  in  Connecticut;  a  church  of 
that  denomination  had  been  existing  in  Stratford,  and  in  1722  the 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  51 

Rev.  Mr.  Cutler,  rector  of  Yale  College,  became  an  Episcopalian. 
After  this  there  were  a  few  more  added  to  the  number. 

It  is  believed  that  several  of  Mr.  Palmer's  parishioners  were  at 
first  inclined  to  think  favorably  of  his  change  of  opinion.  But 
very  few  only  continued  so,  for  he  claimed  his  land  which  was 
granted  to  the  first  minister,  but  the  people  resented  the  claim  as 
unjust,  for  he  had  deserted  his  charge.  A  lawsuit  was  commenc- 
ing; but  the  matter  was  compromised,  he  giving  us  a  part  of  his 
demand. 

This  controversy  it  is  probable  prevented  the  establishment  of 
an  Episcopal  church  in  this  town;  for  the  people  had  held  their 
pastor  in  high  estimation. 

Mr.  Palmer  went  to  England,  was  there  ordained  as  a  priest, 
and  sent  back  as  a  missionary  of  the  church  of  England.  He  had 
an  offer  of  a  permanent  settlement  at  Amboy,  N.  J.,  with  an  ample 
salary,  but  from  the  reluctance  of  his  wife  to  go  thither,  he 
remained  in  Connecticut.  He  preacJied  at  Goshen,  at  New  Milford, 
and  itinerated  in  various  parts  of  the  western  section  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Palmer  derived  no  pecuniary  benefit  from  leaving  his 
parochial  charge  at  Cornwall,  but  experienced  the  contrary. 

For  seventeen  months  after  this  defection  of  the  first  pastor,  the 
town  had  no  settled  minister. 

The  disappointment  of  the  people  in  the  conduct  of  their 
spiritual  guide  was  sensibly  felt  and  the  effect  was  quite  unhappy, 
tending  to  discourage  them,  when  their  efforts  to  enjoy  the  benefits 
of  the  stated  gospel  ministry  had  been  almost  unparalleled  in  such 
an  infant  state,  and  when  no  man  was  wealthy. 

Whether  Mr.  Palmer  took  away  or  destroyed  the  records  of 
this  infant  church,  or  they  were  lost  by  the  careless  neglect  of 
others  is  unknown;  not  a  scrap  of  such  history  is  extant.  It  is 
not  known  whether  any  one  preached  in  Cornwall  except  Mr. 
Gold  until  his  installment.  This  was  on  the  '27th  of  August, 
1755.  Rev.  Dr.  David  Bellamy  of  Bethlehem  preached  on  the  occa- 
sion from  Jeremiah  iii,  15 — "  And  I  will  give  you  pastors  according 
to  my  heart,  which  shall  feed  you  with  knowledge  and  understand- 
ing." The  Rev.  John  Graham,  minister  of  Southbury,  gave  the 
charge  to  the  pastor,  and  Rev.  Daniel  Brinsmade,  of  Judea  Society 
of  Woodbury,  now  Washington,  presented  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship.  Who  were  the  other  members  of  this  ordaining 
council  are  not  on  record. 

The  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  was  a  native  of  Stratford,  a  descendant 


52  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

from  a  family  highly  honorable,  being  a  grandson  of  the  Hon. 
Lieut.  Governor  Nathan  Gold,  and  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Hezekiah 
Gold  of  Stratford.  His  father,  who  was  an  evangelical  pastor  of 
the  First  Congregational  church  of  Stratford,  advocated  the  cause 
of  the  revival  of  religion  first  referred  to,  and  was  a  friend  to  Mr. 
Whitefield  and  to  his  associates.  His  son,  who  became  the  minister 
of  this  town,  was  educated  at  Yale  College,  where  he  graduated 
1751.  He  possessed  a  superior  mind,  having  talents  comprehen- 
sive and  penetrating,  by  which  he  easily  obtained  a  tliorough 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  of  course  able  to  acquire  much 
influence  with  whom  he  associated.  Until  unhappy  dissensions 
took  place  in  the  latter  part  of  his  ministry,  Mr.  Gold's  influence 
among  the  people  and  families  of  his  charge  was  almost  unbounded. 
In  every  concern,  private  and  public,  civil,  military,  and  domestic, 
the  advice  and  opinion  of  Mr.  Gold  was  esteemed  as  highly 
important.  During  the  former  and  greater  part  of  his  ministerial 
labors  a  very  large  assembly  gathered  at  the  house  of  God  on  the 
Sabbath,  which  stood  nearly  opposite  to  the  house  of  George 
Holloway,  Esq., — the  house  now  owned  by  Ithamar  Baldwin. 

No  dissenting  society  existed ;  and  the  people  on  the  borders  of 
Kent,  Warren,  and  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  society  of 
Milton,  all  came  to  the  meetingdiouse  of  Mr.  Gold.  These  inhabi- 
tants of  our  lofty  hills  and  deep  valleys  came  regularly  to  the 
worship  of  the  God  of  their  fathers,  both  in  the  winter  and 
summer,  and  on  roads  far  worse  than  they  are  now;  and 
when  there  were  no  warm  stoves  to  cheer  them  when  they 
arrived  half  frozen  at  the  house  of  worship.  They  were  ready  to 
endure  hardships  to  attend  public  worship,  which  their  descendants 
of  this  day  would  I'egard  intolerable.  Not  a  few  came  froin  six 
miles  distance.  From  well  founded  tradition  it  is  certain,  that  at 
that  time  the  people  of  Cornwall  were  more  disposed  to  honor  the 
sanctuary  of  God  by  their  constant  attendance  there,  than  most 
other  country  towns.  It  is  true,  that  regular  attendance  on  exter- 
nal ordinances  of  religion  does  not  prove  the  extent  of  vital  piety 
— but  can  people  be  the  lovers  of  God,  when  they  express  no 
public  honor  to  his  Sabbath,  and  to  religious  institutions  ?  From 
the  time  of  Mr.  Gold's  settlement  till  his  death,  a  period  of  thirty- 
five  years,  religious  revivals  in  our  country  were  far  less  frequent 
than  in  almost  any  other  course  of  time  of  the  same  space  since 
our  pilgrim  fathers  came  hither. 

The  last  French  war,  previous  to  the  American  revolution,  till 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  53 

the  reduction  of  Quebec  and  of  Canada,  in  1759,  was  a  season  of 
great  military  excitement  throughout  all  the  British  colonies. 
War  and  Christianity  cannot  coincide.  The  spirit  of  religious 
revivals  witnessed  in  former  years  was  now  little  known,  while  the 
effects  of  the  disorder  and  enthusiasm  of  that  day  were  sensiljly 
felt.  Soon  after  Bz-itain  had  reduced  Canada,  our  colonies  were 
crowded  on  by  the  mother  country,  by  striving  to  take  away  our 
chartered  rights.  Hence  commenced  the  contest  with  liritain,  term  i- 
nating  in  tlie  independence  of  our  nation.  During  this  period  of 
great  public  disturbance,  religion  was  unusually  disregarded,  as  a 
natural  result.  In  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Gold,  revivals  of  religion 
were  very  little  known  in  Cornwall,  or  in  the  country  at  large. 

Mr.  Gold  was  a  sound  divine,  being  evangelical  in  his  views  of 
divine  truth.  The  antisci'iptural  and  very  preposterous  practice  of 
allowing  persons  who  did  not  profess  to  be  sincere  believers  in 
Christ  to  have  their  children  baptized  had  been  very  prevalent  in 
the  churches.  By  the  influence  of  Mr.  Gold  this  practice  was  done 
away  in  his  church. 

In  the  book  of  church  records,  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Gold, 
we  find  a  list  of  baptisms,  apparently  accurate  and  complete,  con- 
tinued thirty-two  years,  from  1755  to  1787.  There  are  the  records 
of  several  acts  of  the  church,  but  those  of  church  meetings  and 
transactions  are  not  many.  The  list  of  marriages  and  of  deaths  is 
quite  imperfect;  and  there  is  no  copy  in  this  record  book  of  the 
creed  and  covenant  of  the  church ;  nor  is  there  anything  of  the 
kind  now  extant.  It  is  evident  that  in  the  most  pros})erous  part  of 
his  ministry  Mr.  Gold's  church  was  large.* 

In  a  few  years  after  his  ordination,  and  till  tlie  close  of  the  rev- 
olutionary war,  there  were  many  of  Mr.  Gold's  parisliioners  and 
church  communicants  who  removed  to  various  places  out  of  Connecti- 
cut. This  emigration  was  for  several  successive  years  such  that 
the  population  of  Cornwall  decreased  considerably. 

It  is  requisite  to  bring  to  view  the  unpleasant  scenes  witnessed 

*  I  copy  from  an  old  record  a  list  of  male  members  of  Mr.  Gold's  church  in 
April  3,  1783.     (The  totiil  calls  for  another  name.)  T.  S,  G. 

Joshua  Pierce,  Caleb  Jones,  Woodruff  Emmons,  Amos  Jones,  Edward  May, 
James  Beirce,  Joseph  Pangman,  Jacob  Brownson,  John  Pierce,  John  Wright, 
Jacob  Brownson,  Jr.,  Nath'l  Swift,  Zeehariah  H.  Jones,  Seth  Pierce,  Nehemiah 
Beardsley,  Ralph  Grimes,  Timothy  Brownson,  Dea.  J.  Kellogg,  Ketchel  Bell, 
Lem'l  Jennings,  Dar.  Everest,  Ebenezer  Symonds,  Thom.  Tanner,  John  Bene- 
dict, Austin  Bierce,  John  Jones,  Josiah  Stephens,  Seymour  Morse,  Elias  Birdsey, 
Joel  Wood,  Amos  Camp.     Mr.  Gold,  the  pastor,  makes  33. 


54  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

in  the  town  in  the  latter  part  of  Mr.  Gold's  life,  and  which  pro- 
duced the  division  of  the  society  and  church  into  two  distinct 
religious  communities.  It  is  painful  to  exhibit  the  long  conflict 
which  subsisted  between  the  majority  of  the  town  on  one  part,  and 
the  major  part  of  the  church  and  the  pastor  on  the  other.  Impar- 
tiality demands  that  the  truth  be  exhibited. 

Were  the  writer  to  assert  that  one  of  the  contending  parties 
was  wholly  right,  and  the  other  entirely  wrong,  no  person  possessed 
of  common  understanding  would  credit  the  declaration.  After 
more  than  twenty  years  of  external  prosperity,  having  possessed  a 
very  uncommon  influence  among  his  people,  the  days  of  darkness 
came,  and  Mr,  Gold  met  with  no  small  trials.  Few,  however,  would 
bear  them  with  more  fortitude.  While  one  of  the  parties  claimed 
that  equity  was  on  its  side,  and  the  other  defended  itself  on  the 
strength  of  the  law  of  the  State,  they  both  viewed  themselves 
much  injured  by  their  respective  antagonists. 

What  first  excited  dissatisfaction  toward  the  pastor,  who  had 
been  so  much  respected  for  his  abilities  and  hospitality,  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  ascertain.  Many  maintained  that  the  origin  of  the  contro- 
versy was  that  Mr.  Gold  used  his  influence  in  favoring  a  friend 
and  relative  in  his  military  promotion,  to  the  prejudice  of  a  very 
respectable  gentleman  of  the  town  who  had  a  prior  claim  from  his 
merit  or  seniority  as  an  officer  in  the  French  war  in  Canada. 
How  far  the  opposers  of  Mr.  Gold  would  concede  this  to  be  a 
fact,  is  unknown.  But  Mr.  Gold  ever  denied  the  charge  alleged 
against  him.  He  became  more  wealthy  than  most  of  his  ministe- 
rial brethren,  and  his  capacity  was  greater  than  most  of  them  to 
acquire  property  without  any  dishonorable  means.  Though  re- 
markable for  hospitality,  he  was  a  superior  economist.  His  salary 
was  in  value  greater  than  the  support  of  any  minister  of  Cornwall 
since  his  day.  The  nominal  salary  of  Mr.  Gold  was  £65  and  ten 
cords  of  fire  wood;  being  at  least  as  much  as  218  dollars  in  silver 
in  real  value,  in  addition  to  fuel.     He  had  a  noble  farm. 

Such  independency  gave  him  advantages  to  maintain  his  ground. 
Several  things  were  alleged  to  the  injury  of  his  character ;  that, 
notwithstanding  his  great  hospitality,  acknowledged  by  all,  he  was 
covetous;  that  he  was  exceedingly  subtle  in  his  designs.  It  was 
doubtless  true  that  Mr.  Gold  possessed  uncommon  sagacity.  It 
was  not  easy  to  ensnare  him.  His  opposers,  too,  were  no  inferior 
men ;  they  had  a  large  share  of  discernment,  as  their  management 
proved  in  their  opposition.     These  things  commenced  about  the 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  55 

time  of  the  beginning  of  the  American  Revolution.  Embarrass- 
ment of  business,  the  confusion  of  the  pubhc  mind,  and  the  priva- 
tions resulting  from  the  condition  of  the  country,  made  it  more 
difficult  to  pay  a  minister's  salary. 

All  ministers,  settled  as  pastors,  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
State,  were  exempted  from  all  taxes.  Mr.  Gold  was  an  ardent 
friend  to  the  revolutionary  movements  of  the  country.  And  he 
offered  to  deduct  from  his  annual  salary  so  much  as  his  property 
would  demand  and  the  exigencies  of  the  times  required.  How 
far  this  proposal  was  accepted  is  not  now  known.  After  a  long 
season  of  increasing  dissatisfaction,  the  town  voted,  July  26,  1779, 
to  call  a  council  for  the  purpose  to  obtain  a  dismission  of  the 
pastor. 

It  is  not  recorded  how  large  a  majority  of  the  town  voted  for 
such  a  council;  but  it  was  a  fact  that  a  majority  of  Cornwall  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  minister. 

In  about  six  weeks  after,  the  church  met  to  act  upon  the  vote  of 
the  ecclesiastical  society.  Dr.  Bellamy,  of  Bethlehem,  presided  as 
the  moderator  of  the  meeting.  According  to  the  record  of  that 
meeting  the  result  was  that  the  church  voted  by  a  large  mafority 
not  to  concur  with  the  town  in  calHng  such  a  council. 

It  was  the  advice  of  Dr.  Bellamy  to  the  church,  not  to  concur 
with  the  vote  of  the  town.  His  influence  with  the  churches  of 
this  country  was  great,  and  his  ministerial  brethren  regarded  him 
with  much  deference.  Mr.  Gold  ever  enjoyed  the  confidence  of 
Dr.  Bellamy,  and  therefore  felt  strong. 

Afterwards,  a  council  of  nine  ministers  was  convened  in  Corn- 
wall, to  advise  the  people  in  regard  to  their  unhappy  situation ; 
Dr.  Bellamy  was  present.  Mr.  Gold  was  not  dismissed.  One  of 
the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  the  town,  who  had  become 
unfriendly  to  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Gold,  wrote  and  published  a 
statement  of  what  he  regarded  as  "the  extraordinary  conduct  of 
nine  ministers  in  a  meeting  in  Cornwall."  Mr.  Gold  replied  by  the 
press.  This  Cornwall  controversy  became,  therefore,  a  subject  of 
public  notoriety.  Its  influence  on  the  religious  feelings  of  the 
people  of  this  town,  and  on  their  domestic  enjoyments  and  moral 
character,  was  pernicioxis.  Jealousies  and  calumnies  and  unchris- 
tian temper  were  the  natural  result. 

A  majority  of  the  town  were  unwilling  to  support  their  religious 
instructor,  believing  that  they  and  their  children  could  receive  no 
religious  benefit  from  his  ministry;  and  the  church,  on  the  other 


56  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

liand,  determined  not  to  separate  from  their  pastor  ;  and  in  this 
determination  they  were  supported  by  the  ministers  and  sister 
churches  of  the  vicinity. 

Had  the  pastor  been  in  a  regular  manner  impeached  for  immo- 
ralities, there  would  have  been,  no  doubt,  a  very  different  state  of 
things — but  it  was  not  so.  Unchristian  conduct  was  indeed 
charged  on  Mr.  Gold  by  his  accusers,  but  was  not  proved  before 
the  council.  A  minister  of  both  Sharon  and  of  Kent  had  been 
deposed  for  immorality. 

Had  the  Cornwall  minister  been  accused  of  conduct  injurious  to 
his  reputation  as  a  christian  minister,  so  as  to  destroy  his  public 
character,  there  would  have  been  no  just  reasons  in  his  refusing  to 
be  dismissed. 

Apprehending  that  they  could  obtain  no  redress  by  councils  and 
from  the  sister  churches,  and  feeling  themselves  exceedingly 
aggrieved,  while,  as  they  thought,  equity  was  on  their  side,  and  the 
law  of  the  state  supported  the  pastor  and  the  majority  of  the 
church,  the  major  part  of  the  town  was  exasperated  greatly. 
There  were,  in  this  majority,  very  many  of  wortliy  christian  char- 
acter, *as  well  as  quite  respectable  in  community  at  large. 

They  were  resolved  that  Mr.  Gold  should  not  have  his  salary, 
and  that  by  a  public  town  vote,  so  that  Mr.  Gold  was  obliged  to 
commence  a  suit  at  law.  A  compromise,  however,  was  effected. 
This  majority  claimed  the  right  of  holding  the  house  of  worship, 
and  with  force  attempted  to  shut  out  Mr.  Gold  from  the  pulpit  on 
a  Thanksgiving  day.  Those  who  did  this  were  prosecuted  by  the 
state's  attorney,  and  by  a  court  of  law  fined  to  a  considerable  sum. 
Having  no  other  legal  remedy  to  redress  their  wrongs,  which  they 
regarded  as  great,  the  majority  of  the  town,  in  the  year  1780, 
twenty-five  years  after  Mr,  Gold's  ordination,  formally,  and  as  the 
law  of  the  State  allowed,  separated  from  the  society  to  which  they 
had  been  united,  and  styled  themselves,  "Strict  Congrcgation- 
alists."  Those  of  them  who  had  belonged  to  the  church  of  Mr. 
Gold,  formed  themselves  a  new  church  with  the  name  that  the 
new  society  had  assumed.  The  articles  of  faith  by  them  adopted 
were  entirely  evangelical  and  conformable  to  the  Calvinistic  creed 
of  Connecticut  Congregationalists.  By  this  act  they  were  entirely 
separated  from  all  connection  with  the  Saybrook  platform  of 
church  discipline  and  of  consociations. 

The  old  church  connected  with  Mr.  Gold  regarded  this  separa- 
tion as  censurable  conduct  ;  but  they  did  not  undertake  to  deal 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  57 

with  their  separating  brethren  in  way  of  discipline.  That  there 
was  real  piety  in  both  of  these  churches,  is  unquestionable,  and 
that  an  unchristian  spirit,  manifested  in  various  ways,  was  charge- 
able on  them  both,  is  also  evident.  Which  of  them  was  the  most 
aggressive  to  each  other  and  the  most  guilty,  is  not  to  be  decided 
by  us,  but  is  left  to  an  impartial  judge.  Peace  to  the  memory  of 
those  imperfect  men.  Paul  and  Barnabas  separated  from  each 
other,  having  had  "  a  sharp  contention," — but  they  are  now  united 
in  the  most  glorious  and  happy  union. 

As  a  large  proportion  of  these  dissenters  resided  in  the  northern 
section  of  the  town,  this  society  has  been  denominated  the  north 
society. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  months,  the  north  society  engaged  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bird  to  be  their  preacher,  and  who  for  a  few  years  had 
been  the  pastor  of  a  church  in  New  Haven.  He  was  a  very 
respectable  minister,  of  piety  and  fair  talents.  How  long  he  con- 
tinued their  preacher  is  now  unknown.  Afterward  the  Rev.  John 
Cornwall  was  their  stated  minister,  officiating  as  a  pastor  for  seve- 
ral years,  though  he  was  not  installed  as  such.  He  had  not  a 
liberal  education,  but  possessed  a  vigorous  mind ;  not  much  culti- 
vated in  general  knowledge,  but  was  well  versed  in  the  holy 
scriptures,  and  was  sound  in  the  faith  and  of.  devoted  piety.  He 
was  of  eccentric  manners  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  his  mode  of  exhibit- 
ing and  illustrating  divine  truth,  which  singularity  was  not  pleasing 
to  a  refined  audience  ;  yet  from  his  simplicity,  fervency  of  feeling, 
and  love  to  the  cause  of  religion,  he  would  command  the  attention 
of  an  audience  much  more  than  many  well  educated  men. 

The  ministry  of  Mr.  Cornwall  was  blessed  to  the  religious  bene- 
fit of  several  of  his  hearers,  notwithstanding  the  unhappy  contro- 
versey  between  the  two  contending  parties.  He  resided  in  the 
house  now  occupied  by  Carrington  Todd,  and  in  which  he  gene- 
rally preached.  In  1785,  the  north  society,  by  subscription, 
erected  a  house  for  public  worship;  it  was  nearly  on  the  site  of  the 
present  school-house,  on  the  north  of  the  mansion  built  Ijy  George 
Wheaton,  Esq.  It  was  small  and  never  completely  finished,  and 
was  taken  down  in  1826,  when  the  present  commodious  congrega- 
tional church  was  built.  Although  these  societies  were  separated, 
and  Mr.  Gold  and  Mr.  Cornwall  officiated  to  .their  respective 
people,  party  spirit  still  remained,  to  the  detriment  of  vital  piety, 
and  of  the  enjoyment  of  friendship  and  social  intercourse.  Each 
of    the    societies   felt   the   evil   of    separation.      Frequently   the 


58  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

thought  and  desire  of  reunion  was  intimated,  until  it  was  at 
length  attempted,  but  without  success.  It  was  requisite  that  both 
the  ministers  should  be  dismissed.  Mr.  Cornwall  did  resign  his 
charge;  and  Mr.  Gold  offered  to  relinquish  his  salary  and  pastoral 
charge,  so  soon  as  the  two  societies  and  churches  should  unite  in 
settling  a  sound,  learned,  and  suitable  minister. 

Before  Mr.  Cornwall  left  the  town,  all  past  disagreement  that 
had  subsisted  between  him  and  Mr.  Gold  was  most  happily  settled 
on  Christian  principles,  as  they  cordially  forgave  each  other.  In 
the  autumnal  session  of  the  Connecticut  Legislature,  1787,  both 
Mr.  Gold  and  Mr.  Cornwall  were  the  representatives  of  this  town, 
and  in  the  ensuing  spring  Mr.  Cornwall  was  again  elected  and  sent 
to  the  Assembly.  The  confidence  of  the  opposers  of  Mr.  Gold  was 
again  so  reposed  in  him  that  they  respectfully  invited  him  to 
preach  in  the  new  house  of  worship  of  the  dissenters.  As  about 
that  time,  the  people  seriously,  and  with  many  then  sincerely,  con- 
templated the  reunion  of  the  two  societies,  the  Rev.  Medad  Rogers, 
a  very  respectable  minister  well  adapted  to  harmonize  the  town, 
was  engaged  to  preach  for  a  year.  Mr.  Cornwall,  after  he  left  this 
town,  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  zealous  and  faithful  preacher 
of  evangelical  truth  to  a  church  and  society  of  Congregationalists 
in  Amenia,  in  New  York  State,  bordering  on  Connecticut,  in 
Dutchess  County.     He  died  there  in  a  good  old  age,  May  12,  1812. 

The  efforts  to  unite  the  two  societies  proved  abortive;  Mr. 
Rogers,  with  all  his  prudence  and  wisdom,  could  not  prevent  jeal- 
ousies and  suspicions,  and  therefore  left  the  place.  He  went  to 
New  Fairfield,  where  for  several  years  he  was  a  very  worthy 
pastor. 

One  cause  preventing  the  proposed  union  in  Cornwall  was  in 
respect  to  the  payment  of  Mr.  Rogers'  preaching;  one  party 
charged  the  other  with  the  neglect  of  paying  its  due  proportion, 
which  the  accused  entirely  denied. 

All  the  first  agents  and  principal  actors  of  the  Cornwall  contro- 
versy have  for  several  years  gone  to  the  grave.  Peace  be  to 
their  memory.  They  had  their  imperfections — and  their  virtues 
too.  Several  of  them,  of  both  parties,  were  undoubtedly  persons 
of  real  piety,  notwithstanding  their  contentions  on  earth. 

Several  families  of  the  southwestern  part  of  the  town  were 
annexed  to  the  religious  society  of  Kent,  by  the  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature; the  boundary  of  the  Cornwall  Society  on  the  south  was 
about  half  a  mile  below  Gen.  Swift's,  taking  a  mile  or  more  of  this 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  59 

town  into  the  parish  of  Kent.  A  few  famihes  were  in  the  same 
manner  added  to  the  ecclesiastical  society  of  Warren,  and  many- 
more  were  united  to  the  society  of  Milton,  including  the  Great 
Hill  and  the  College  Farms.  This  curtailment  of  territory  on  the 
south  of  the  town  lessened  the  south  society  of  Cornwall  and 
enlarged  the  north ;  the  new  dissenters  and  unlocated  society,  which 
formed  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Cornwall,  readily 
assented  to  these  alterations,  while  the  people  that  adhered  to  the 
old  pastor  were  not  a  little  dissatisfied,  and  complained  much  of 
the  doings  of  their  northern  townsmen.  Thus  the  two  parties  were 
not  easily  harmonized. 

In  the  spring  of  1790  the  house  of  God  built  in  the  days  of  Mr. 
Palmer  was  taken  down,  and  rebuilt  with  considerable  enlarge- 
ment, having  a  little  steeple  added  to  it,  and  was  situated  in  the 
east  part  of  Cornwall  valley.  It  had  no  bell  until  1825,  when  the 
steeple  was  rebuilt. 

The  south  society  had  a  committee  appointed  by  the  General 
Assembly  to  place  the  spot  of  the  church  of  the  south  society. 
But  the  north  people  took  no  part  in  the  matter,  determining  not 
to  move  any  further  south  to  favor  any  union  of  the  societies. 

Mr.  Gold  relinquished  his  salary  and  his  pastoral  charge  in  an 
agreement  with  his  church  and  people,  but  was  not  formally  dis- 
missed.    He  died  on  the  29th  of  May,  1790. 

The  Rev.  Mr,  Smith  of  Sharon,  with  whom  he  had  ever  been 
intimate  as  a  ministerial  brother,  preached  his  funeral  sermon. 
The  following  is  inscribed  on  Mr.  Gold's  monument  in  the  ceme- 
tery: 

"  In  whom  a  sound  knowledge  of  the  Scripture,  extensive  charity  to 
the  poor,  unshaken  fortitude  in  adversity,  were  united  with  uncommon 
discerning  of  the  human  heart,  and  shone  conspicuously  thro,  an  active 
and  useful  life." 

During  the  thirty-five  years  of  Mr.  Gold's  ministry,  religion  de- 
cayed in  the  country,  through  the  baleful  influence  of  political  and 
military  conflicts.  The  effects  of  the  great  revival  of  a  few  years 
before  were  not  gone  indeed,  but  the  spirit  of  fervent  piety  was 
dying  away.  The  French  war,  at  the  commencement  of  Mr. 
Gold's  ministry,  that  closed  in  1759,  was  soon  succeeded  by  the 
quarrel  between  Britain  and  her  American  colonies  that  prepared 
the  way  for  the  revolutionary  contest,  produced  a  perpetual  tumult 
in  the  country  at  large,  while  this  town  was  involved  in  its  own 
controversy  respecting  the  minister.     Religion,   when  externally 


60  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

persecuted  with,  violence,  lives  and  flourishes,  if  the  church  is  pure 
and  sound  in  doctrine,  and  retains  in  her  bosom  ardent  love;  but 
when  those  who  should  be  "  the  light  of  the  world  "  are  contentious 
and  feuds  and  animosities  prevail,  woe  be  to  Zion. 

Still  in  this  dark  period  Cornwall  church  had  some  worthy- 
Christian  characters  whose  examples  deserved  imitation.  The 
Kev.  Mr.  Gold's  talents  would  have  made  him  conspicuous  in  any 
situation.  As  a  preacher  he  was  not  popular  in  speaking,  though 
capable  of  writing  good  discourses.  He  had  such  sagacity,  firm- 
ness of  purpose,  and  fortitude,  that  had'  he  been  a  warrior  he 
would  have  been  no  inferior  military  oflBcer. 

When  Deacon  John  Harris  and  his  associate.  Deacon  Phineas 
Waller,  the  first  deacons  here,  died,  is  not  known.  The  latter  was 
one  of  those  who  became  dissenters  from  Mr.  Gold.  Deacon  Ben- 
jamin Sedgwick  and  Deacon  Samuel  Abbott  were  elected,  oflBciated, 
and  deceased  during  Mr.  Gold's  ministry.  They  sustained  a 
worthy  reputation.  It  is  not  known  when  they  were  elected.  Not 
a  church  in  the  State  was  more  favored  with  a  worthy  and  judi- 
cious deacon  than  Cornwall  was  in  Thomas  Porter,  Esq.,  who  was 
elected  deacon  October  8,  1V67,  and  continued  in  office  till  1779, 
when  he  removed  to  Tinmouth,  Vt.  In  June  24,  1773,  Elijah 
Steele  was  chosen  deacon.  In  a  short  time  he  became  a  Quaker  in 
sentiment.  Whether  the  church  did  anything  in  attempting  to 
reclaim  him,  or  in  disciplining  him,  we  now  know  not.  Upon  this 
defection  of  Deacon  Steele,  Judah  Kellogg,  Esq.,  was,  in  1776, 
June  20th,  elected  deacon.  It  appears  that  after  the  removal  of 
Deacon  Porter  no  one  was  elected  to  this  office  during  Mr.  Gold's 
life,  and  Judah  Kellogg,  Esq.,  was  the  sole  deacon  of  this  church 
for  a  course  of  years. 

Before  Mr.  Gold's  decease,  the  Rev.  Hercules  Weston  of  Mid- 
dlebury,  Mass.,  who  was  an  alumnus  of  Dartmouth  College,  came 
here  as  a  licensed  preacher.  He  was  patronized  by  Mr.  Gold ;  and 
in  1792,  June  20,  was  ordained  pastor  of  Cornwall  South  Church, 
after  having  repeatedly  preached  to  this  society  in  two  or  three 
years  preceding.  He  was  installed  by  the  north  consociation  of 
this  county  :  formerly  the  churches  of  the  county  were  united  in 
one  association  and  consociation  ;  but  now  the  body  had  been 
divided.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  of  Sharon,  preached  the  ordination 
sermon  from  Acts  xxviii,  15.  "  Whom  when  Paul  saw,  he 
thanked  God  and  took  courage."  The  charge  to  the  pastor  elect 
was  given  by  the   Rev.  Mr.   Mills   of  Torrington,  and  the  right 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  '  61 

hand   of    fellowship   was   presented   by  the   Eev.   Mr.    Starr   of 
Warren. 

The  prospect  of  this  people  was  not  very  promising  at  this  time: 
the  church  was  reduced  more  than  one-half  within  ten  years,  by 
death,  removals,  and  by  the  desertion  of  not  a  few.  In  1782  there 
were  in  Mr.  Gold's  church,  thirty-three  male  members,  and  a 
larger  number  than  this  of  female  professors.  Now,  no  more  than 
thirty  members  composing  the  church,  and  of  which  sixteen  were 
male  members,  and  fourteen  females;  a  very  singular  fact,  as  in  • 
almost  all  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches,  female  mem- 
bers are  most  numerous. 

The  sisters  in  the  church,  though  they  do  not  vote,  are  no  incon- 
siderable part  of  the  spiritual  strength  of  a  christian  community. 

Their  prayers,  private  and  domestic  influence  is  immensely 
important:  therefore,  when  females  in  a  church  are  few,  its  pros- 
pects cannot  but  be  gloomy  and  portentous. 

Mr.  Weston  commenced  his  pastoral  duty  in  very  inauspicious 
circumstances.  His  health  was  very  infirm  when  he  first  came  to 
Cornwall. 

The  society  was  forming  itself  anew,  and  had  continual  alterca- 
tions with  their  dissenting  brethren  at  the  north.  Mr.  Weston 
was  an  ardent  partizan  for  his  people's  cause.  One  of  the  most 
respectable  citizens,  Judah  Kellogg,  Esq.,  who  was  the  only  deacon 
of  the  church,  considered  the  infirm  health  of  Mr.  Weston  to  be 
such  that  he  ought  not  to  be  settled.  After  the  ordination.  Deacon 
Kellogg  left  the  communion  table,  for  which  he  was  disciplined 
and  excommunicated  as  an  offender  for  a  very  high  crime,  and 
without  the  discrimination  which  the  apostle  Paul  required  in  his 
directions. 

Mr.  Weston's  health  was  such  that,  many  times,  and  for  weeks 
in  succession,  he  was  entirely  unable  to  perform  any  pastoral  duties. 
And  during  his  eleven  years'  ministry  the  sacrament  was  not 
administered  in  more  than  three  or  four  instances.  Cases  of  dis- 
cipline relating  to  persons  who  had  not  united  with  the  dissenting 
society,  and  had  been  members  of  the  South  church,  and  had 
deserted  it,  occasioned  trouble.  At  this  time  the  feelings  of  the 
two  parties  in  Cornwall  were  to  each  other  exceedingly  unpleasant. 
And  thus  were  the  religious  circumstances  of  Mr.  Weston's  church 
and  people,  until  1799,  a  period  of  uncommon  interest  in  the 
county  of  Hartford  and  that  of  Litchfield  for  the  revival  of  piety. 
In  1798  a  very  uncommon  religious  excitement,  and  greater  than 


62  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

had  been  known  in  Connecticut  for  many  years,  took  place  in  the 
town  of  Mansfield,  "Windham  county.  Soon  after  a  revival  was 
witnessed  at  Hartford,  which  spread  through  the  county  and  in 
that  of  Litchfield,  and  of  Berkshire,  Mass.  No  religious  revivals 
had  been  known  since  those  of  half  a  century  before  of  so  great 
extent  as  were  seen  now  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State. 
Many  towns  were  deeply  interested  in  the  subject  of  salvation. 
Now,  for  the  first  time,  was  Cornwall  visited  with  a  revival  that 
excited  public  notice.  Both  the  north  and  south  societies  were  to 
some  considerable  degree  blessed  with  the  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  There  were  between  twenty  and  thirty  hopefully  the  sub- 
jects of  regenerating  grace  in  the  society  of  Mr.  "Weston;  several 
of  whom  were  eventually  united  to  his  church,  and  became  con- 
sistent professors.  About  the  same  number  were  added  to  the 
church  of  the  other  society.  Never  before  had  Cornwall  witnessed 
a  similar  event.  This  interesting  time  was  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century  and  the  first  years  of  the  present  one.  These  religious 
excitements  were  remarkably  free  from  those  disorders  and  that 
wild  enthusiasm  which  so  much  disfigured  the  revivals  of  fifty  and 
sixty  years  before.  Many  thousands  in  Western  Connecticut  made 
a  good  confession  before  the  world,  and  Hved  answerably  to 
their  christian  views.  Most  of  them  have  fallen  asleep,  but  a  few 
of  them  still  remain,  proving  the  sincerity  of  their  profession. 

The  influences  of  the  Divine  Spirit  were  at  the  same  time  en- 
joyed in  several  other  places  in  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts, 
accompanied  with  the  most  happy  results.  Also  in  Kentucky, 
about  the  same  time  and  a  little  after,  a  rehgious  excitement  was 
widely  spread,  which  was  much  more  remarkable  for  bodily 
operations,  produced  by  the  impressions  on  the  mind,  than  were 
witnessed  in  New  England.  Many  were  entirely  deprived  of  the 
use  of  their  limbs,  or  were  convulsed  with  spasms;  they  were 
instantly  cast  down  and  sunk  into  a  trance.  In  repeated  instances 
persons  were  very  strangely  and  involuntarily  agitated  in  their 
limbs.  But  in  New  England  such  cases  were  very  rarely  known. 
This  is  an  unquestionable  fact,  that  those  who  had  been  most 
acquainted  with  the  sacred  writings,  and  had  the  best  means  of 
knowing  divine  truths,  were  far  the  least  subjected  to  such  singular 
phenomena.  But  to  return  from  this  digression.  The  society  and 
church  of  Mr.  Weston  received  from  this  revival  an  impulse  of 
rehgious  activity  unknown  before;  at  the  same  time  the  pastor's 
health  decayed,  and  when  the  people  needed  the  increased  labors 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  63 

of  a  pastor's  duty,  Mr.  Weston  was  very  incapable  of  doing  what 
he  wished  to  perform  and  the  circumstances  of  the  people  required. 
The  venerable  Mr.  Mills  of  Torringford,  with  his  associates  in  the 
work  of  God,  Messrs.  Gillett  of  Torrington,  Starr  of  Warren, 
Hallock  of  Canton,  and  the  excellent  Mr.  Hooker  of  Goshen,  and 
other  zealous  ministers,  were  ready  so  far  as  they  could  to  aid  Mr. 
Weston  in  his  infirmities,  to  promote  the  religious  welfare  of 
South  Cornwall. 

After  continuing  eleven  years  and  one-half  in  his  pastoral  ofBce, 
Mr.  Weston  was  dismissed  an  account  of  his  increasing  ill  health. 
Both  pulmonary  and  nervous  diseases  afflicted  him.  He  was  a 
good  economist.  His  wife,  who  was  Miss  Abigail  Mills,  of  Kent, 
an  excellent  lady  of  good  health,  proved  a  helper  in  all  respects, 
and  having  no  children  to  provide  for,  he  acquired  a  comfortable 
share  of  property,  and  retired  to  Kent,  where  he  died,  November, 
1811,  being  supported  in  death  by  the  promises  of  the  Gospel. 
Had  he  been  blessed  with  a  firm  constitution  of  body,  he  would 
have  been  an  active  and,  no  doubt,  energetic  minister.  His  mind 
was  naturally  vigorous.  He  was  distinguished  for  a  keenness  of 
wit  and  a  talent  of  sarcasm,  so  that  those  who  knew  him  were  not 
very  ready  to  attack  him  with  the  shafts  of  satire,  well  knowing 
that  they  would  be  losers  in  such  a  conflict.  In  the  course  of  his 
ministry,  the  subject  of  the  standing  of  baptized  children  was 
seriously  discussed  by  the  church,  and  an  opinion  was  stated  in  a 
written  document,  in  Mr.  Weston's  handwriting,  in  which  the 
church  concurred  with  the  pastor.  This  paper  is  still  extant, 
expressing  the  belief  that  baptized  children  are  to  be  regarded  as 
in  a  covenant  relation  to  God,  but  not  to  be  allowed  to  be  commu- 
nicants at  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  to  offer  their  children  in  baptism, 
without  faith  and  repentance. 

Some  time  previous  to  Mr.  Weston's  dismission,  several  candi- 
dates preached  to  the  people. 

In  March,  1803,  the  writer  of  these  historical  sketches  came 
here  to  preach  as  a  candidate  for  settlement,  while  he  anticipated 
a  residence  not  longer  than  four  or  six  weeks.  "  But  it  is  not  in 
man  to  direct  his  steps."  His  first  preaching,  on  the  15th  of 
March,  was  from  the  text,  "Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbor, 
therefore  love  is  the  fulfilUng  of  the  law."  Within  ten  weeks,  he 
was  invited  by  an  unanimous  vote  of  both  the  church  and  society 
to  be  their  pastor.  The  salary  offered  was  $420  only.  Having 
been  sought  for,  some  time  before  he  came  to  Cornwall,  to  preach 


64  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

as  a  candidate  at  Sunderland,  on  Connecticut  river,  Massachusetts, 
and  receiving  another  and  special  request  from  that  town,  he  went 
thither  in  June,  and  in  six  weeks  was  invited  to  settle  there,  with 
a  salary  equal  to  that  offered  at  Cornwall.  After  hesitating  for 
many  weeks,  he  accepted  the  invitation  of  Cornwall.  South  Corn- 
wall had,  with  much  effort,  raised  a  fund  for  the  support  of  a 
minister,  the  interest  of  which  amounted  toward  $300.  The 
people  here  were  unanimous  in  their  call,  while  those  of  Sunderland 
were  not  so  perfectly  united.  Four  church  members  objected — 
doubting  whether  the  candidate  possessed  vital  piety,  as  they 
found,  after  examining  him,  that  his  experience  at  his  regeneration 
did  not  agree  with  theirs.  He  engaged  to  stay  at  Sunderland, 
provided  those  four  dissenters  would  not  oppose.  They  did  not 
consent  so  to  do,  therefore  he  returned  to  Cornwall,  and,  on  the 
'20th  of  November,  1803,  was  ordained.  He  was  previously  exam- 
ined by  the  association  held  in  Torrington,  before  which  body  he 
preached,  and  he  was  approved  to  be  allowed  to  accept  the  Corn- 
wall call.  This  rule  is  an  excellent  one,  and  prevents  improper 
candidates  from  intruding  themselves  into  the  consociation  of  the 
churches.  At  that  period,  the  north  consociation  of  Litchfield 
County  had  the  following  pastors,  viz. :  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Bordwell 
of  Kent,  Starr  of  Warren,  Smith  of  Sharon  (the  father  of  Gov. 
Smith),  Parker  of  Ellsworth,  Crossman  of  Salisbury,  Morgan  of 
North  Canaan,  Hooker  of  Goshen,  Gillett  of  Torrington,  Bobbins 
of  Norfolk,  Mills  of  Torringford,  Lee  of  Colebrook,  Hallock  of 
Canton,  Miller  of  Burlington,  and  Jerome  of  New  Hartford. 

Rarely  has  there  been  a  more  worthy  association  of  pastors  than 
those  who  have  been  now  enumerated.  They  were  closely  united 
in  christian  and  ministerial  friendship,  and  of  one  accord  in  their 
views  of  divine  truth.  Every  one  of  them  had  been  more  or  less 
blessed  with  religious  revivals;  one  of  them,  indeed,  who  preached 
sound  doctrine,  and  had  witnessed  a  revival  among  his  people, 
was,  in  18 17,  deposed  from  the  ministrj^,  after  he  had  left  his 
flock,  for  dishonesty.  Every  one  of  them  is  in  the  grave,  and 
the  writer  of  this  statement  is  the  only  surviving  associate  of  that 
body  with  which  he  had  the  honor  of  being  once  connected. 

At  the  ordination  of  the  writer,  the  Rev.  Bezaleel  Pinneo  of 
Milford,  the  brother-in-law  of  the  pastor-elect,  preached  from 
2d  of  Timothy,  ii,  15:  "Study  to  shew  yourself  approved  of  God, 
a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the 
word  of  truth."     It  was  an  excellent  discourse.     Rev.  Mr.  Rob- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  65 

bins,  of  Norfolk,  who  was  moderator  of  the  consociation,  offered 
the  consecrating  prayer,  the  candidate,  according  to  his  own 
request,  received  consecration  on  his  bended  knees,  on  a  platform 
stage  prepared  before  the  pulpit.  Rev.  Mr.  Starr,  of  Warren,  gave 
the  charge  to  the  pastor,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker,  of  Goshen,  pre- 
sented him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  It  had  not  then  become 
customary  to  give  a  charge  to  the  church  and  people.  The  whole 
number  of  the  church  then,  including  several  that  had  removed 
from  the  town  and  were  not  dismissed,  was  fifty-five — twenty-one 
males  and  thirty-four  females.  The  confession  of  faith  of  this 
church  was  essentially  defective,  as  the  divinity  of  Christ,  His 
atonement  for  sin  by  vicarious  suffering,  and  other  important 
principles  of  the  Christian  faith,  were  omitted.  Therefore  the 
pastor,  in  a  few  months,  proposed  to  the  church  the  articles  of 
faith  and  the  church  covenant,  the  same  that  are  now  in  use,  and 
are  published  in  the  church  manual  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Urmston,  in  1838.  In  May  4th,  1804,  the  church  unanimously 
adopted  it.  Both  Mr.  Gold  and  Mr.  Weston  were  sound  in  their 
doctrinal  opinions;  it  was,  therefore,  a  matter  of  surprise  that  such 
a  lax  creed  was  in  use  for  so  long  a  period. 

It  is  now  requisite  to  advert  to  the  North  Church  and  society. 
While  the  South  Church  had  a  creed  exceedingly  lax  and  such  as 
Unitarians  would  readily  admit,  the  other  church  at  the  north 
had  adopted  a  creed  very  explicit  and  sound,  declaring  in  language 
very  copious,  without  the  least  reserve  or  ambiguity,  all  the  tenets 
of  that  Saybrook  platform,  the  church  government  of  which  they 
had  formally  rejected. 

Thus,  while  the  old  church  strenuously  maintained  the  discipline 
and  consociational  polity  of  the  Saybrook  platform,  and  at  the 
same  time  did  not  insert  in  her  creed  the  doctrinal  sentiments  of 
that  platform,  the  dissenting  church  received  cordially  those 
doctrines,  but  had  rejected  that  which  was  less  important,  to  wit, 
the  church  discipline  and  consociational  principles.  Bach  party 
in  Cornwall  was  willing  and  even  desirous  to  form  a  union.  But 
the  removal  of  the  old  meeting-house  to  Cornwall  Valley,  a  mile 
beyond  its  former  site,  proved  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  such  a 
compromise.  This  obstacle  became  afterwards  still  more  insupera- 
ble by  the  ecclesiastical  fund  of  the  south  society,  as  the  validity 
and  existence  of  it  depended  upon  the  continuance  of  the  meeting- 
house being  in  Cornwall  Valley. 

The  north  society  had  no  incorporation,  and  no  local  bounds. 
9 


66  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

For  about  five  years,  in  the  period  of  Mr.  Weston's  ministry,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Israel  Holley,  who  had  been  a  minister  in  the  Society  of 
Salmon  Brook  in  Granby,  Hartford  county,  was  their  stated 
preacher  and  oflBciated  as  pastor,  though  not  installed.  He  was  a 
pious  man  and  of  sound  theology.  His  ministry  was  blessed,  for 
the  spirit  of  revival  that  had  been  spreading  in  the  county,  and 
had  reached  South  Cornwall,  was  soon  enjoyed  in  the  north  part 
of  the  town.  This  revival  was  not  an  event  that  could  be  ordina- 
rily expected,  when  there  were  such  discordant  feelings  between 
professed  friends  of  Christ  here.  Still  it  was  so.  The  two 
ministers  of  the  town  had  scarcely  any  intercourse  with  each 
other.  They  did  not  associate  at  all  in  religious  meetings,  and  yet 
both  of  them  were  the  sincere  friends  of  Christ  and  of  His  cause  ! 

The  claims  of  conscience,  and  a  religion  that  is  established  by 
civil  government,  cannot  well  coalesce  anywhere,  but  above  all,  not 
in  a  free  government  like  ours.  The  people  that  had  separated 
from  the  society  of  Mr.  Gold  some  years  before,  believing  that  they 
and  their  families  could  not  be  edified  by  the  instruction  of  the 
pastor,  formed  the  majority  of  the  legal  voters  of  Cornwall.  But 
the  statutes  of  Connecticut  bound  them  to  the  decision  of  the 
minority,  by  means  of  the  union  between  church  and  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal society. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Gold  was  disconnected  from  his  people  by  his 
resignation  of  oiEce  as  pastor,  and  also  by  death. 

Those  dissenters,  respectable  in  character  and  for  number,  being 
in  their  religious  opinion  united  with  the  churches  and  societies  of 
the  vicinity,  were  very  desirous  to  have  christian  intercourse  and 
fellowship  with  the  adjacent  churches.  But  the  south  church  and 
society  opposed  them,  unless  they  would  come  down  to  Cornwall 
Valley  to  worship  there,  which  the  northern  people  regarded  as  a 
mile  beyond  the  center  of  the  town.  They  were  regarded  by  the 
south  as  schismatics  and  disorganizers,  and  the  neighboring 
ministers  and  churches  countenanced  the  conduct  of  the  south 
church  by  refusing  to  associate  with  them  as  a  regular  body  of 
Christians. 

Therefore  the  north  church  and  people  applied  to  the  Morris- 
town  Presbytery  (a  body  of  churches  and  pastors  that  had  from 
some  reasons  separated  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
United  States),  to  be  united  with  them  as  a  regular  church.  They 
were  so  far  received  as  such  that  for  eighteen  months  they  had 
their  patronage  and  were  in  a  sort  of  connection  with  that  presbytery. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  67 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Somers,  afterwards  the  pastor  of  a  church  in 
Spencertown,  in  Columbia  County,  N.  Y.,  preached  to  them  for 
some  time.  They  applied  to  the  legislature  for  incorporation  with 
local  bounds,  but  unsuccessfully,  as  the  society  bounds  they 
petitioned  for  took  in  several  families  that  had  uniformly  belonged 
to  the  south  society. 

A  few  months  after  the  ordination  of  the  writer  at  South  Corn- 
wall, the  people  of  the  north  made  another  attempt  to  become  an 
incorporated  society,  and  to  obtain  an  equal  part  of  the  property 
that  belonged  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Society  of  Cornwall  which  was 
appropriated  in  a  right  of  the  town  for  that  purpose  at  the  survey- 
ing of  the  -township.  This  property  was  not  granted,  as  it  was 
designed  for  the  first  society,  and  these  petitioners  were  dissenters 
from  it.  But  an  act  of  the  legislature  in  1804,  at  the  October 
session  held  in  New  Haven,  gave  them  an  incorporation,  but  with- 
out any  local  boundaries:  allowing  any  one  to  join  the  society, 
if  done  within  a  specified  time  prescribed  in  the  act. 

More  than  a  year  before  this  incorporation,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
north  association  of  this  county,  held  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Starr's  of 
Warren,  a  delegation  from  the  north  church  met  them,  requesting 
that  the  pastors  of  the  vicinity  would  visit  the  north  society  and 
church  and  open  a  friendly  and  christian  intercourse  with  them, 
and  thereby  acknowledge  their  christian  character.  They  having 
been  connected  with  the  Morristown  Presbytery,  the  association 
appointed  a  committee  of  their  body  to  unite  with  a  committee  of 
that  Presbytery,  to  investigate  into  the  state  of  North  Cornwall 
Church.  This  proposal  was  much  opposed  by  Mr.  Weston,  who 
was  present;  and  no  doubt  the  opposition  was  agreeable  to  some 
of  the  leading  persons  of  the  south  church,  but  not  to  all  of  them. 
Those  who  with  Mr.  Weston  opposed  such  compromising  measures, 
thought  that  all  the  northern  people  ought  to  come  down  to  the 
meeting-house  in  Cornwall  Valley,  and  quitting  their  old  prejudices, 
unite  and  form  one  large  church  and  society.  The  joint  com- 
mittees of  this  association  and  of  the  Morristown  Presbytery  met 
at  North  Cornwall  in  the  summer  of  1803,  and  recommended  such 
a  course,  or  rather  did  such  things,  as  tended  to  a  reconciliation 
of  the  two  contending  parties. 

Having  been  incorporated  as  an  ecclesiastical  society,  as  has  been 
already  stated.  Rev.  Josiah  Hawes,  a  native  of  the  adjacent  town 
of  Warren,  was  invited  to  preach  to  the  north  society,  and  he 
commenced  preaching  in  the  latter  part  of  1803,  and  continued  his 


68  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

labors  in  the  succeeding  winter.  He  had  studied  and  graduated 
at  WilKams  College,  and  -was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Backus  of  Somers,  of 
this  State.  Having  been  invited  by  the  church  and  people  with 
much  unanimity  to  the  pastoral  office,  he  was  ordained  on  the  14th 
of  March,  1805. 

The  ordaining  council  consisted  of  the  pastors  and  delegates  of 
the  North  Consociation,  although  the  church  of  North  Cornwall 
was  not  yet  consociated.  The  church  and  pastor  of  South  Corn- 
wall were  invited  to  the  council.  Some  of  the  worthy  members  of 
this  church  were  not  very  ready  to  acknowledge  the  North  Church 
as  a  sister  church, — they  had  not  sufficiently  forgotten  former  trou- 
bles. But  the  venerable  General  Heman  Swift  was  then  retain- 
ing his  ample  powers  of  mind,  and  he  wished  to  see  the  peace  of 
Cornwall.  The  pastor,  too,  earnestly  desired  the  same,  and,  in 
opposition  to  the  feelings  of  his  friends,  his  church,  by  a  majority, 
voted  to  comply  with  the  request  of  North  Cornwall,  and  appointed 
Gen'l  Swift  delegate.  Previous  to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Hawes 
the  South  Cornwall  minister  determined,  so  far  as  he  could  do  it, 
to  break  down  the  separating  walls  between  the  two  churches,  and 
therefore  exchanged  labors  in  the  pulpit  with  Mr.  Hawes.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Stowe,  the  pastor  of  Mr.  Hawes,  preached  the  ordination 
sermon.  The  venerable  and  reverend  Mr.  Cornwall,  the  former 
spiritual  guide  of  the  people  of  North  Cornwall,  was  appointed  by 
the  council  (he  being  one  of  the  body)  to  give  the  charge  to  the 
pastor  elect.  This  he  did  with  great  propriety  and  solemnity.  He 
presented  to  Mr.  Hawes  the  holy  Bible,  and,  putting  it  into  his 
hands,  charged  him  to  regulate  his  own  conduct  and  all  his  minis- 
try according  to  the  orders  of  this  sacred  directory. 

The  right  hand  of  fellowship  was  allotted  to  the  writer  of  this 
account.  With  great  pleasure  was  the  right  hand  of  his  presented 
to  that  most  worthy  and  very  amiable  ministerial  brother.  This 
event  was  interesting,  highly  so,  to  the  religious  prosperity  of  this 
town. 

During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Hawes,  which  was  more  than  eight 
years,  his  ministerial  connection  with  the  pastor  of  South  Corn- 
wall was  unusually  cordial;  and  when  their  respective  flocks  were 
not  on  the  most  friendly  terms,  the  two  pastors  never  indulged  a 
suspicion  of  the  friendship  of  each  other.  There  was,  indeed, 
much  more  harmonious  feeling  between  the  two  churches  and 
societies  than  had  been  before  known.  In  more  instances  than  one 
the  two  churches,  with  their  pastors,  met  for  prayer  and  Christian 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  69 

conference.  These  meetings  were  delightful.  The  North  society- 
had  never  been  accustomed  to  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  the 
ministry,  as  the  South  society  had  been,  and  which  had  now  an 
ecclesiastical  fund  of  nearly  three  hundred  dollars  a  year;  and  the 
people  of  Mr.  Hawes,  who  were  less  in  number  than  the  South 
parish,  and  supported  their  minister  by  subscription  and  donations, 
found  it  somewhat  hard  to  raise  the  salary  of  about  three  hund- 
red and  thirty- three  dollars  for  Mr.  Hawes. 

Therefore  they  were  desirous  that  the  South  society  should  con- 
sent and  propose  to  give  up  some  families  that  belonged  to  them 
to  be  united  with  the  North.  For  this  purpose  the  North  Church 
requested  that  the  sister  church  should,  in  a  meeting  with  them, 
favor  such  a  concession,  and  that  some  important  members  of  the 
South  society,  living  in  the  north  part  of  the  town,  should  be 
allowed  and  recommended  by  the  South  Church  to  join  the  North 
society.  This  was,  indeed,  a  dehcate  matter  to  handle.  Fearing 
that  such  a  meeting  of  the  two  churches  for  such  a  purpose  would 
tend  to  lessen  friendly  feelings  which  had  been  enjoyed  already,  the 
influential  members  of  the  South  Church,  with  the  pastor's  advice, 
opposed  such  a  meeting,  and  it  did  not  take  place.  This  was  in 
the  summer  of  1810.  This  rejection  produced  unpleasant  feelings 
among  many  of  the  North  society  toward  the  pastor  of  the  South 
Church,  charging  him  with  too  much  influence  on  the  minds  of 
his  people  and  church.  In  the  summer  of  1811,  proposals  were 
made  by  the  North  society,  in  a  meeting  for  a  union  of  the 
town  in  one  society,  and  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  the  two 
ministers  would  be  necessarily  dismissed. 

The  South  society  met  on  this  subject,  and  about  or  nearly  one 
half  of  the  voters  approved,  in  general  terms,  this  project.  But 
as  it  excited  much  agitation,  and  was  strongly  opposed  by  some  of 
the  most  important  members  of  the  church  and  society  of  the 
South,  the  plan  was  soon  given  over  by  those  who  at  first  had 
strongly  advocated*  it.  Some  time  before  this,  in  the  spring  of 
1809,  Mr.  Hawes  proposed  to  be  dismissed  on  account  of  his  inad- 
equate support,  and  the  consociation  was  convened.  It  should  be 
stated  that  soon  after  the  connection  of  Mr.  Hawes  with  his 
church  it  was  formally  united  to  the  North  Consociation  of  the 
county.  At  that  consociational  meeting  in  North  Cornwall,  in  the 
spring  of  1809,  it  was  not  thought  proper  to  dismiss  Mr.  Hawes, 
as  his  people  did  not  wish  it,  and  they  made  a  compromise  with 
him.     He  did  not  leave  his  charge  till  he  was  dismissed  by  a 


70  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

special  meeting  of  consociation,  convened  at  Ellsworth  for  a  case 
of  an  appeal  from  Ellsworth  Church.  Mr.  Hawes  and  his  church 
and  society,  being  united,  then  requested  the  separation,  and  it  took 
place. 

The  eight  years  of  Mr.  Hawes'  ministry  at  North  Cornwall  was 
a  very  great  blessing,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  following  pages,  and  in 
the  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  South  society,  to  which  we 
are  now  to  advert. 

There  were  several  cases  of  discipline,  demanding  the  immediate 
attention  of  the  church  of  South  Cornwall,  on  the  commencement 
of  the  pastor's  duty.  The  adoption  of  a  sound  and  sufficiently 
explicit  creed  has  been  brought  to  view  already.  Such  was  the  ill 
health  of  Mr.  Weston  that  it  had  been  impossible  for  him  to 
attend  to  pastoral  visits  among  the  families  of  his  flock.  This 
being  known,  the  new  pastor  was  under  the  necessity  of  paying 
special  attention  to  service,  and  immediately  entered  upon  it.  He 
soon  saw  the  benefit  of  communicating  religious  instruction  in  the 
family  and  at  the  fireside;  where  a  friendly  familiarity  inspires 
confidence  and  friendship.  But  little  did  he  at  first  apprehend 
that,  maintaining  the  advantages  resulting  from  it,  required  a  con- 
tinuance of  such  a  practice,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  time  essen- 
tial to  faithful  study  for  the  all-important  services  of  the  pulpit. 
Little  did  he  think  that  to  prepare  "well  beaten  oil "  for  the  light 
of  the  sanctuary  demanded  much  time.  He,  indeed,  at  first 
intended  to  be  more  of  a  studious  minister  than  many  times  he 
was.  Cases  of  discipline  were  attended  to,  and  with  apparent  suc- 
cess, as  the  delinquents  gave  satisfaction  to  the  church. 

Early  in  1806  the  church  appointed  a  committee  to  visit  with 
the  pastor  the  families  of  the  society,  and  especially  members  of 
the  church,  and  to  converse  on  religion,  and  urge  on  baptized 
children  their  duty.  This  plan  had  been  recommended  by  the 
Association  to  the  churches  a  few  months  before.  In  a  few  in- 
stances this  course  was  prosecuted,  but  not  so  effectually  as  the 
importance  of  it  demanded;  still  it  was  not  unsuccessful.  In  the 
course  of  the  summer  of  1806  a  revival  of  religion,  almost  imper- 
ceptible, commenced.  Here  and  there  in  different  and  various 
sections  of  South  Cornwall  there  were  cases  of  rehgious  impres- 
sions. The  excitement  was  still  and  solemn ;  it  gradually  increased 
more  and  more  for  several  months.  Youth,  the  middle  aged,  and 
many  younger  heads  of  families  now  felt  the  infinite  importance 
of  salvation.     Some  had  very  deep  convictions  of  the  truths  that 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  71 

had  been  urged  before  in  tlie  pulpit.  The  entire  depravity  of  man- 
kind, the  spirituality  and  strictness  of  the  law  of  God,  the  neces- 
sity of  renewal  of  heart  and  affections  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  ina- 
bility of  sinners  to  come  to  Christ  on  account  of  their  alienation 
from  God,  and  the  endless  destruction  of  the  finally  impenitent 
sinner,  were  the  doctrines  which  had  been  plainly  exhibited.  Nor 
was  the  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty  in  the  predestination  of  the 
elect  at  all  disguised.  At  this  time,  when  religion  was  the  absorb- 
ing subject  of  attention,  these  doctrines  were  deeply  reflected 
upon,  and  had  very  great  influence.  For  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten 
that  in  connection  with  the  preaching  of  those  truths,  the  moral 
agency  of  sinners  and  their  accountability  to  God,  were  strenu- 
ously maintained.  In  all  the  religious  conferences,  and  meetings 
on  the  Sabbath,  there  was  solemnity,  and  nothing  like  outcries, 
but  not  a  few  tears.  Cases  of  great  opposition  to  certain  truths 
were  manifest,  when  conscience  felt  the  truth,  which  the  heart  per- 
fectly abhorred,  which  opposition  terminated  in  a  peaceful  and 
joyous  submission.  Some  saw  that  the  heart  was  so  opposed  to 
the  spirituaUty  of  the  Divine  law,  that  it  was  apprehended  by  them 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  production  of  such 
a  conviction  of  the  truth,  but  that  they  were  given  up  to  their 
native  wickedness.  They  could  not  believe  that  God's  Holy  Spirit 
could  have  any  connection  with  such  hearts  as  theirs.  Some  that 
lived  within  a  few  rods  of  the  house  of  worship,  and  had  scarcely 
ever  attended  it,  were  alarmed  at  their  situation — were  enlightened, 
and  became  decidedly  pious  members  of  the  church  that  they 
formerly  detested.  In  short,  this  was  a  most  interesting  event  to 
South  Cornwall.  Before,  the  youth  had  been  quite  lawless;  had 
their  midnight  balls,  and  violated  the  rules  of  propriety  with  very 
little  restraint.  But  now  there  was  a  surprising  change  among 
the  youth.  Most  of  the  influential  of  them  turned  their  course  en- 
tirely, and  were  sober-minded  and  truly  pious.  For  twenty  years, 
until  about  the  time  the  pastor  of  those  youth  was  dismissed,  in 
182'7,  there  was  scarcely  an  instance  of  a  midnight  dance  or  party 
of  the  youth  known  in  South  Cornwall.  Then,  when  their  pastor 
was  to  be  dismissed,  parties  were  again  renewed,  to  the  alarm  of 
their  more  sober  parents,  who,  for  their  own  credit  and  for  the 
reputation  of  the  society,  determined  to  break  up  such  disorder. 
More  than  seventy,  most  of  them  youth  and  younger  heads  of 
families,  were  the  subjects  of  religious  hope  at  that  period,  and 
about  that  number  united  with  the  church  in  a  few  months.     Al- 


72  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

though  this  revival  commenced  in  South  Cornwall,  the  North 
society  soon  shared  in  this  effusion  of  God's  regenerating  and 
sanctifying  spirit.  The  same  solemn  scenes  of  religious  anxiety  for 
the  salvation  of  the  soul  were  witnessed  among  the  people  of  Mr. 
Hawes.  The  same  doctrinal  preaching  was  heard  from  both  of 
the  pulpits,  and  the  confessions  of  faith  of  the  two  churches  were 
essentially  the  same ;  and  the  operations  of  the  divine  Spirit,  in 
awakening,  convincing,  and  converting  sinners,  were  similar  in 
both  parts  of  the  town.  A  considerable  number  of  heads  of  fam- 
ilies of  North  Cornwall,  and  of  the  most  respectable  class,  became 
publicly  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

In  this  season  of  revival  much  ministei'ial  labor  was  demanded; 
religious  meetings  and  evening  conferences  were  multiplied  far 
more  than  in  a  former  period.  Neighboring  pastors  and  other 
ministers  were  not  unfrequently  here,  rendering  their  benevolent 
aid,  in  both  of  the  societies.  The  venerable  fathers  of  the 
consociation,  the  Eev.  Messrs.  Mills,  Starr,  Gillett,  and  that  emi- 
nently pious  servant  of  Christ,  Jeremiah  Hallock,  were  here  in 
Cornwall,  to  bear  their  witness  to  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel. 
None  were  here  oftener  in  this  precious  season,  than  Messrs.  Gil- 
lett and  Hallock.  Opposition  to  this  work  of  God  was  veiy  little 
known. 

It  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  previous  to  the  commencement 
of  the  solemn  scenes  in  South  Cornwall,  there  had  been,  within  a 
year  or  two,  religious  camp-meetings  of  the  Methodists  in  adjacent 
towns.  Although  those  meetings  were  accompanied  with  irregu- 
larities and  confusion,  yet,  no  doubt  there  were  in  those  meetings 
real  conversions  to  God.  And  those  scenes,  in  all  probability,  had 
their  influence  in  leading  some  persons  who  had  been  entirely 
thoughtless  of  their  souls,  to  think  seriously  on  their  situation. 

Religious  conversation  was  more  common  in  Cornwall.  The 
youth  were  unusually  sober-minded  throughout  the  town.  At  that 
time  the  religious  youth  in  South  Cornwall  maintained,  at  stated 
times,  meetings  of  their  own  for  prayer  and  familiar  conversation 
on  religious  subjects. 

The  plan  of  uniting  the  two  societies  in  the  summer  of  1811, 
already  mentioned,  was  fraught  with  danger  to  the  peace  of  the 
South  church.  The  fund  of  the  South  society  was  so  managed  as 
to  give  great  dissatisfaction  to  many;  it  was  indeed  conducted  in  a 
manner  that  could  not  bear  a  legal  trial  at  law.     A  fund  for  a 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  73 

society  is  oLvioixsly  intended  (unless  otherwise  specified  in  its  con- 
stitution) to  be  an  equal  benefit  to  eacli  individual.  Therefore,  if 
the  fund  is  not  sufiicient  to  pay  the  annual  support  of  the  minister, 
the  deficiency  must  be  made  good  by  subscriptions,  or  by  a  tax 
laid  on  all  equally.  But  some  individuals  had  given  for  the  fund 
more  than  their  property  would  have  required  had  there  been  no 
fund.  Such  were  resolved  not  to  pay  more  by  a  tax  over  and 
above  their  fund  subscription.  But  this  was  not  legal  proceeding, 
and  it  produced  a  continual  dissatisfaction  in  South  Cornwall. 
By  the  proposed  union  of  the  two  societies,  the  entire  abolition  of 
this  fund  was  intended.  But  the  goodness  of  Divine  Providence 
interposed  by  a  very  great  and  most  interesting  revival  of  religion 
in  the  South  church  and  society  not  long  after  the  project  of  union, 
and  which  commenced  in  the  beginning  of  October,  1811.  This 
solemn  excitement  silenced  all  present  agitations  of  union  and  of 
the  fund. 

The  youth  had  maintained  their  stated  religious  meetings,  and 
the  church  also  had  not  neglected  to  attend  their  meetings  in  a 
somewhat  regular  manner.  But  in  the  summer  of  1811,  both  the 
meetings  of  the  youth  and  of  the  church  had  become  less  regarded. 
The  zeal  of  christians  among  us  in  the  midst  of  the  agitations  of 
union  of  societies  and  of  the  fund,  was  dying  away  apace.  Thomas 
Euggles  Gold,  a  most  excellent  character,  and  Victorianus  Clark, 
Esq.,  afterwards  a  deacon  of  the  church,  made  efforts  to  revive 
the  spirit  of  zeal  in  the  youth's  religious  meetings.  God  mani- 
festly smiled  on  these  efforts.  The  youth  were  the  first  fruits  of 
this  revival  of  1811  and  1812.  Very  many  of  them,  and  many 
children,  turned  to  the  Saviour.  Gradually,  and  with  solemn 
silence,  this  interesting  state  of  mind  concerning  the  unseen 
realities  of  a  future  world,  increased  from  October  to  the  succeed- 
ing spring.  The  charge  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hawes,  in  North  Corn- 
wall, shared  not  a  little  in  these  things.  One  after  another  of  the 
youth,  and  several  children  of  the  age  of  twelve  and  somewhat 
older,  were  solicitous  to  find  their  Saviour.  The  Center  School  of 
South  Cornwall,  taught  by  a  young  man  who  had  been  one  of  the 
first  to  hope  in  God,  was  in  a  very  singular  situation.  Often  in 
the  intermission  of  the  school  hours,  the  children  would  resort  to 
their  pastor's  house,  a  few  rods  distant,  to  receive  his  instructions, 
and  to  unite  in  his  prayers  for  them.  Deeply  interesting  were 
these  interviews.  To  behold  a  group  of  children,  forsaking  their 
accustomed  pastimes,  and  from  the  number  of  six  or  ten  to  double 
10 


74  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

of  that  sum,  asking  with  the  utmost  simplicity,  and  with  tearful 
eyes,  "  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved,"  would  affect  the  stern  heart 
of  any  stoical  and  proud  pharisee  that  opposed  the  effusions  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Many  in  that  season  were  most  solemnly  im- 
pressed with  the  belief  of  the  reality  of  vital  religion,  who  never 
gave  evidence  that  they  knew  it  experimentally.  Yet  a  very  con- 
siderable number  of  both  societies  eventually  united  themselves 
with  the  visible  church,  whose  deportment  as  christians  hon- 
ored their  holy  profession.  A  large  accession  there  was  to  the 
church  of  South  Cornwall,  not  only  of  youth,  but  of  those  of 
respectable  standing  in  middle  life.  The  two  pastors  beheld  with 
great  delight,  a  happy  change  in  the  religious  state  of  their 
respective  charges. 

On  a  very  pleasant  Sabbath  morning  in  May,  1812,  the  minister 
of  the  South  society  had  the  great  satisfaction  of  beholding  from 
his  pulpit  about  forty  seated  in  the  galleries  of  the  house  of  God, 
most  of  them  youthful  singers,  who  with  two  or  three  exceptions 
were  young  converts,  and  had  united  with  the  church,  or  expected 
to  do  it  soon.  Few  pastors  had  more  reason  to  rejoice  than  he,  in 
seeing  so  large  a  number  of  the  youth  of  his  flock  apparently 
walking  in  the  truth,  conducting  soberly  and  amiably  as  young 
christians,  and  honoring  the  great  Saviour  by  a  public  profession  of 
faith  in  Him. 

One  extraordinary  case  of  conversion  in  a  man  of  more  than 
eighty-one  years  of  age  is  demanding  peculiar  notice.  Samuel 
Abbott,  eldest  son  of  the  ancient  Deacon  Abbott,  was  at  his  com- 
mencement of  active  hfe  amply  furnished  with  patrimonial 
property,  which  he  entirely  lost,  by  a  peculiar  providence,  not 
long  after  he  began  to  take  care  of  himself  and  family.  His  loss 
made  him  almost  a  misanthropist.  He  for  a  long  course  of  years 
was  scarcely  ever  seen  in  the  house  of  worship,  though  within 
half  a  mile  of  his  residence.  He  indulged  strong  prejudices 
against  professed  christians,  and  felt  and  expressed  bitter  feelings 
to  the  minister  of  South  Cornwall.  In  the  summer  of  1811  he 
was  sick,  and  apparently  near  death.  He  was  often  visited  by  his 
minister  in  his  sickness,  and  was  solemnly  and  yet  tenderly  urged 
to  repentance,  being  told  that  he  was  a  ruined  sinner.  But  the 
agonizing  sufferer  felt  himself  insulted,  and  indignantly  turned  a 
deaf  ear.  When  requested  by  his  wife,  who  was  a  professor  of 
religion,  to  ask  Mr.  S.  to  pray  for  him,  he  sullenly  assented  to  the 
request,  turning  on  his  side,  intending  to  hear  nothing.     He  com- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  75 

plained  of  the  minister  as  wishing  to  torment  him  in  his  distress, 
and  even  declared  that  he  believed  that  the  Almighty  loved  to  tor- 
ment him  in  his  distresses.  He  indeed  seemed  like  a  wild  bull 
tossing  in  a  net  which  he  could  not  break.  Contrary  to  all  expec- 
tations, he  recovered  to  his  former  activity.  The  revival  came,  he 
knew  nothing  of  it,  as  he  was  quite  a  deaf  man,  and  none  wished 
to  speak  to  him  of  a  subject  that  would  provoke  his  wrathful 
feelings.  Thus  this  aged  man  appeared  to  be  given  up  to  repro- 
bation and  final  impenitence;  and  as  such  was  he  regarded  by  him 
who  gives  this  narative,  and  so  he  wrote  of  him  in  his  private 
writings  of  that  time. 

When  the  cold  season  had  commenced,  and  the  anxiety  of 
many  youths  concerning  their  salvation  was  increasing,  this  old 
man  became  unhappy,  and  silent,  sullen,  and  unpleasant  in  temper; 
often  he  retired  to  the  woods,  continuing  there  alone.  When  his 
wife,  noticing  his  singular  conduct,  inquired  of  him  what  affected 
him,  his  answers  were  ci-oss  and  evasive.  She,  suspicious  that  he 
was  under  serious  impressions  about  his  soul,  asked  him  whether 
it  was  not  so,  he  indignantly  denied  it.  Kepeatedly  it  was  so 
when  the  wife  thus  inquired  of  him.  His  pride  and  the  force  of 
truth  and  conscience  made  him  miserable. 

For  many  days,  in  which  he  would  hide  himself  in  the  woods 
among  the  rocks,  and  seated  on  the  stumps  would  he  bemoan  his 
woeful  situation.  At  length  his  agony  of  soul  was  too  much  to 
be  concealed,  and  soon  his  state  of  mind  was  entirely  altered. 

It  was  reported  to  his  minister  that  Samuel  Abbott  was  under 
deep  conviction,  and  was  even  converted.  This  astonishing  report 
soon  brought  the  minister  to  his  little,  cold  habitation,  who  in  his 
way  thither,  took  with  him  a  judicious  christian  brother  of  the 
church,  to  ascertain  what  was  truth  relating  to  this  marvelous 
story. 

On  meeting  him  in  his  house,  he  seized  the  hand  of  his  minister 
with  much  emotion,  while  tears  rolled  down  on  his  wrinkled 
cheeks,  and  said  to  him  :  "I  have  hated  to  see  your  face,  but  O, 
how  glad  I  am  now  to  see  you !  "  sobs  and  cr3dng  checked  further 
speaking.  He  then  stated  that  he  had  been  some  time  before 
made  to  think  that  he  had  become  a  very  old  man,  and  must  soon 
die; — that  he  was  an  old  and  great  sinner  against  God,  who  had 
borne  with  him  in  his  sins  with  astonisliing  patience,  and  these 
impressions  filled  him  with  great  horror.  He  said,  that  as  long  as 
possible  he  had  endeavored  to  conceal  his  distress  of  mind,  there- 


76  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

fore  he  went  often  into  the  woods  alone  to  think  on  his  wretched 
condition.  He  felt  so  guilty  that  he  did  not  dare  to  offer  one 
petition  to  God  for  mercy.  At  length,  a  few  days  since,  he,  when 
in  the  woods,  was  so  entirely  overwhelmed  with  distress,  that  he 
thought  his  heart  would  break.  Then  he  was  compelled  to  cry 
out  for  the  mercy  of  God.  Soon  he  was  led  to  reflect  on  the  long- 
suffering  goodness  and  patience  of  God  toward  him,  and  to  other 
sinners.  It  seemed  to  him  most  wonderful.  Also,  at  the  same 
time,  he  saw  God  in  every  object  around  him,  and  as  he  expressed 
himself :  "  God  was  in  all  the  rocks  and  trees."  Having  stated 
these  facts,  he  added  that  he  loved  to  think  of  God,  but  if  he 
looked  on  himself,  he  was  distressed.  As  yet,  the  old  man  did 
not  seem  to  have  any  peace  in  believing  in  the  pardon  of  his  sins 
through  Christ.  But  from  instructions,  accompanied  with  the 
influence  of  God's  good  Spirit,  he  very  soon  enjoyed  great  peace 
and  even  joy, — as  Christ,  no  doubt,  was  formed  in  him  the  hope 
of  glory.  Now  he  greatly  loved  christians,  and  was  much  en- 
deared in  his  feelings  to  his  pastor,  whom,  a  few  months  before, 
he  so  much  hated. 

After  a  trial  of  the  continuance  of  his  faith,  which  was  accom- 
panied with  a  corresponding  deportment,  he  was,  from  his  earnest 
request,  received  into  the  visible  church.  He  was,  indeed,  a  won- 
der to  all  who  had  before  known  old  Mr.  Samuel  Abbott. 

During  the  remainder  of  life,  there  was  nothing  in  his  conduct 
that  could  justify  any  doubts  of  the  sincerity  of  his  faith  and  pro- 
fessions. His  mental  powers  had  been  decaying  for  some  time, 
when  he  died  in  peace  in  July,  1816. 

The  deacons  of  the  north  church  were,  Beriah  Hotchkiss,  Heze- 
kiah  Clark,  and  David  Clark,  two  brothers,  Jesse  Hyatt,  Ehakim 
Mallory,  Titus  Hart,  Noah  Rogers,  2d,  Nathan  Hart,  and  James 
Wadsworth.     The  two  last  mentioned  are  at  present  officiating. 

Invidious  comparisons  among  characters  of  worth  are  to  be 
wisely  avoided.  But  without  reflecting  at  all  on  the  worthiness  of 
the  deacons  of  North  Cornwall,  all  of  whom  have  been  not  a  little 
respected  by  their  christian  friends.  Deacon  Hyatt  and  Deacon 
Titus  Hart  deserve  more  than  ordinary  notice. 

The  former  was  eminently  amiable  and  meek,  and  few  chris- 
tians have  lived  and  died  with  fewer  enemies  than  Deacon  Hyatt. 
Until  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  did  not  believe  that  infants 
should  be  baptized  ;  but  before  his  death  he  was  convinced  of  that 
duty;  yet  he  was  never  a  close  communionist,  but  with  the  utmost 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  "77 

cordiality  was  ever  glad  to  receive  everyone  that  loved  the  essen- 
tial doctrines  of  the  cross.  He  removed  to  Georgetown,  Che- 
nango County,  N.  Y.  There  his  light  shone  with  mild  and 
amiable  lustre,  until  in  good  time  he  was  summoned  to  the  church 
triumphant. 

Deacon  Titus  Hart  was  truly  a  good  man,  an  Israelite  indeed, 
and  ever  firm  and  steadfast  in  duty;  possessing  the  qualifications 
which  Paul  required  of  the  office  of  deacon. 

For  thirty-six  years  from  the  election  of  Judah  Kellogg,  Esq., 
until  1812,  no  deacon  was  chosen  by  the  South  Church.  Capt. 
Seth  Pierce  and  Col.  Benjamin  Gold  acted  in  some  sort  as  dea- 
cons; they  waited  on  the  church  at  the  communion  table,  but  did 
not  formally  accept  the  office  of  deacons. 

The  church  was  three  times  larger  than  it  was  six  years  before, 
and  these  three  deacons  were  chosen  July  9,  1812  :  Josiah  Hop- 
kins, Sen.,  Benjamin  Gold,  and  Abel  Carter.  Deacon  Hopkins 
possessed  a  sound  judgment,  but  he  was  slow  in  speech,  having  no 
eloquence,  and  his  education  had  been  no  more  than  ordinary. 
He  could  not  plead  a  cause  before  an  earthly  court  to  any  advan- 
tage ;  but  his  eloquence  in  the  court  of  Heaven,  with  which  he 
maintained  an  invincible  intercourse  by  prayer,  was  mighty.  Very 
few  disciples  of  Christ  imitated  their  Master  more  than  Deacon 
Hopkins.  His  pastor  ever  regarded  his  secret  prayers  in  the 
closet,  and  in  the  retirement  of  the  woods,  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant means  of  bringing  down  the  rich  effusions  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  with  which  South  Cornwall  was  favored. 

In  1819  he  resigned  his  office,  and  Deacon  Jedidiah  Calhoun, 
in  December,  was  elected. 

In  Nov.  1824,  Deacon  Hopkins  peacefully  exchanged  earth  for 
heaven. 

Deacon  Gold,  after  a  long,  active,  and  useful  life,  having  been 
much  employed  in  public  business,  died.  May,  1847,  with  great 
calmness  and  peace,  relying  on  his  Saviour. 

The  people  of  South  Cornwall,  and  of  the  north  society,  also, 
were  generally  interested  in  the  promotion  of  an  institution  called 
"The  Moral  Society,"  which  had  excited  not  a  little  attention  in 
New  England.  Between  1812  and  1816,  many  meetings  were 
held  in  this  State,  and  in  various  places,  also  very  extensively 
throughout  the  country,  to  promote  this  cause.  Probably  it  pro- 
moted morality  and  good  order.  But  previous  to  this  voluntary 
organization,  the  temperance  cause  had  secured  a  large  share  of 


78  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

notice,  and  soon  superseded  "The  Moral  Society."  The  authority 
of  this  town,  at  its  annual  meeting  on  the  first  Monday  of  June, 
1814,  was  respectfully  solicited  by  the  minister  of  South  Cornwall 
to  favor  the  moral  society;  and  all  the  gentlemen  of  that  meeting 
signed  their  names  to  the  moral  society.  For  a  time,  this  society 
flourished. 

The  standing  in  which  baptized  children  are  to  be  regarded  in 
their  relation  to  the  church  in  which  their  parents  are  members, 
had  been  seriously  attended  to  by  the  church  here  in  the  ministry 
of  Mr.  Weston.  His  successor  often  brought  to  view  this  highly 
important  subject  in  the  pulpit.  It  weighed  very  heavily  on  his 
mind.  The  greal  neglect  of  poedobaptist  churches  to  their  baptized 
children,  seemed  to  him  an  aggravated  sin,  and  their  amazing 
inconsistencies  of  conduct,  as  one  great  cause  of  many  sincere 
christians  renouncing  infant  baptism.  The  subject  having  been 
once  and  again  pressed  on  the  church,  a  meeting,  in  March  6th, 

1814,  was  held,  in  which  thirty-four  brethren  gave  their  assent  and 
signatures  to  a  system  of  discipline  of  baptized  children.  This  is 
on  the  records  of  the  church ;  and  in  a  future  period,  this  church, 
(which  no  doubt  will,  with  her  sister  churches,  become  obedient  to 
God's  institutions  and  laws,  much  more  than  any  now  are,)  will 
duly  regard  the  important  duty  the  church  owes  to  her  baptized 
children. 

All  members  present  at  that  meeting  gave  their  consent;  a  few 
brethren  were  absent;  and  some  felt  uninterested  in  the  subject, 
but  no  one  opposed  it.  Such  had  been  the  harmony  of  the 
church  on  every  subject,  excepting  in  regard  to  the  ecclesiastical 
fund,  that  the  pastor  indulged  considerable  hope  of  seeing  baptized 
children  more  faithfully  trained  up  "in  the  way  that  they  should 
go,"  and  "in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord."  The  sub- 
ject was  brought,  not  long  after,  to  the  consociation  to  be  consid- 
ered. They  generally  approved  of  a  system  somewhat  similar, 
and  suggested  it  to  the  consideration  of  the  churches.  But 
nothing  was  effected. 

Not  long  after  this  act  of  the  churches  of  South  Cornwall,  the 
plan  of  union  of  ■  the  two  churches  and  societies  engrossed  all  the 
attention  of  the  people  of  the  town  for  many  months  in  the  year 

1815,  and  directly  after,  in  1816,  the  Foreign  Mission  School  was 
instituted  in  Cornwall  Valley.  These  things  tended  directly  to 
turn  off  the  mind  from  the  duties  devolving  on  believing  parents 
and  the  church  in  respect  to  their  baptized  children. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  79 

The  North  church  and  society  demands  now  our  attention. 

The  church  of  Mr.  Hawes  and  his  society  were  favored  with  a 
good  share  of  the  revival  of  religion  enjoyed  in  1806  and  1807, 
and  also  in  1811  and  1812,  that  commenced  in  South  Cornwall. 
There  was  a  harmonious  feeling  between  Mr.  Hawes  and  his  flock. 
But  the  people  felt  a  considerable  burden  in  supporting  him. 
Without  any  unpleasant  feelings  toward  each  other,  in  July,  1813, 
at  an  extra  meeting  of  the  consociation  at  Ellsworth,  which  was 
convened  to  hear  an  appeal  of  an  excommunicated  member  from 
the  Ellsworth  church,  Mr.  Hawes  and  his  people  were  amicably 
disunited.  In  the  ensuing  winter,  efforts  were  made  by  some  of 
the  neighboring  ministers  to  induce  the  people  of  the  north  society 
to  recall  Mr.  Hawes,  but  without  any  success.  He  was,  in  a  year, 
settled  at  North  Lyme,  in  this  State,  where,  for  more  than  eight 
years,  he  was  beloved  by  his  flock.  He  eventually  removed  to  the 
the  State  of  New  York. 

His  people  hired  preaching;  two  ver}-  respectable  candidates 
were  employed  for  a  season  in  the  two  years  after  Mr.  Hawes' 
dismission,  viz.:  Eev.  Francis  L.  Robbins,  settled  at  Enfield,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Hawley,  who  settled  at  Hinsdale,  Mass.  In  the  year 
1815,  serious  efforts  were  made  to  unite  the  societies  and  churches, 
it  being  intended  that  the  minister  of  the  South  society  should 
take  the  charge  of  them  both,  they  forming  one  society  and 
church.  The  north  parish  and  the  church  were  apparently  unani- 
mous, and  a  large  proportion  of  the  south  concurred;  but  three 
very  respectable  members  of  the  South  church,  Capt.  Seth  Pierce, 
Col.  Benjamin  Gold,  and  Samuel  Hopkins,  Esq.,  opposed  through 
fear  of  the  removal  of  the  meeting  house,  and  the  consequent  loss 
of  the  ecclesiastical  fund.  For  a  short  season,  there  was  a  very 
fair  prospect  of  success.  Had  the  minister  of  the  South  society 
been  active  in  pi'omoting  this  design,  and  had  he  not  thrown  some 
obstacles  in  the  way,  probably  a  compromise  of  the  two  parties 
would  have  been  effected.  No  one  was  more  urgent  than  Gen. 
Sedgwick,  who  was  a  member  of  the  South  church,  and  a  sincere 
friend  of  the  pastor;  he  was  desirous  to  hasten  on  the  union  by  an 
immediate  application  to  the  State  legislature,  to  pass  an  act  of 
uniting  the  two  ecclesiastical  societies  into  one.  Had  this  been 
done  without  any  specific  arrangement,  as  for  who  should  be  the 
minister,  the  pastor  of  the  South  church  would  have  been  without 
a  society,  and  the  society  without  a  minister.  But  this  obstacle 
having  been  stated  in  a  letter  sent  to  the  members  of  the  joint 


80  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL, 

committee  of  the  two  societies,  broke  up  the  project.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  North  church  and  society  were,  it  is  believed,  no 
way  insincere  in  their  professed  desire  that  the  minister  of  the 
South  society  should  be  the  pastor.  Some  living  in  the  south  of 
the  town  were  willing  to  have  the  fund  destroyed,  and  to  run  the 
risk  of  losing  the  meeting  house  in  Cornwall  Valley.  Cornwall  is 
not  favorably  located  for  one  society.  Not  only  its  length  from 
north  to  south  is  about  double  its  breadth,  but,  also,  the  mountains 
and  valleys  are  so  located  that  a  convenient  center  cannot  be  found 
to  accommodate,  the  inhabitants  in  assembling  in  one  place  for 
public  worship.  Experience  has  clearly  proved  that  it  is  highly 
expedient  for  this  town  to  have  two  distinct  societies,  and  nearly 
two  thousand  people  demand  two  ministers. 

When  this  plan  of  union  was  agitated,  Mr.  Grove  Brownell,  of 
Vermont,  a  graduate  at  Burlington  College,  Vermont,  who  afterward 
was  the  minister  of  Woodbury,  (north  society,)  Conn.,  and  more 
recently  of  Sharon,  was  employed  as  a  preacher  in  North  Corn- 
wall. He  continued  there  for  some  months  in  the  winter  of  1816, 
and  his  ministry  was  much  blessed  with  a  special  revival  of  reli- 
gion. Quite  a  considerable  number  were  eventually  united  to  the 
north  church. 

A  revival  also  was  then  enjoyed  in  the  south  society,  but  it  was 
somewhat  subsequent  to  that  of  the  north.  A  considerable  addi- 
tion was  made  at  that  time  to  the  south  church.  From  this 
period  all  serious  thoughts  of  union  of  the  societies  was  given  up. 

The  revival  of  rehgion  in  North  Cornwall,  through  the  instru- 
mentahty  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brownell,  was  not  only  highly  auspi- 
cious in  promoting  piety,  but  also,  it  animated  the  hopes  of  the 
friends  of  the  ecclesiastical  society,  and  excited  their  efforts  to 
support  and  elevate  it.  Occasionally  their  pulpit  was  supplied, 
but  until  June,  1819,  no  pastor  was  obtained.  At  that  time,  the 
Rev.  Walter  Smith,  a  native  of  Kent,  who  graduated  at  Yale  col- 
lege, 1816,  and  had  studied  theology  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Perrine,  of  New  York,  was  installed  by  the  consociation 
as  pastor;  the  society  had  engaged  his  support  for  five  years  at  a 
salary  of  $500.  At  his  ordination,  the  Rev.  Asa  Blair,  of  Kent, 
the  pastor  of  Mr.  Smith,  preached  the  ordination  sermon,  and  the 
minister  of  South  Cornwall  was  appointed  to  give  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship,  as  he  was  fourteen  years  before  at  the  installment 
of  Mr.  Hawes. 

During  a  few  years  previous,  after  the  plan  of  union  of  1815, 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  81 

the  two  churches  and  societies  had  not  been  so  perfectly  harmoni- 
ous toward  each  other,  as  they  had  been  before.  A  military 
union,  occasioned  by  a  new  arrangement  of  the  militia  companies, 
produced  unpleasant  consequences;  and  as  it  ought  not  to  have 
been,  soured  the  feelings  of  several  professed  christians  of  the 
respective  churches.  This,  though  very  unpleasant,  was  only 
temporary. 

The  two  ministers  were  not  at  all  drawn  aside  from  each  other 
in  their  cordiality  as  brothers  in  the  ministry.  Mr.  Smith's  minis- 
try in  North  Cornwall  was  not  limited,  as  it  was  first  proposed,  to  • 
five  years,  but  he  continued  in  his  office  until  1838.  For  the  nine- 
teen years  of  his  pastoral  duties,  Mr.  Smith  was  an  able  and  useful 
minister,  being  a  respectable  scholar  no  less  than  a  faithful  pastor. 
He  was  the  means,  under  God,  of  enlarging  his  church  not  a  little; 
as  he  received,  during  his  ministry,  a  hundred  members  or  more. 
Repeatedly  his  ministry  was  blessed  with  hopeful  conversions. 
Not  improbably  he  would  have  continued  longer  with  his  people, 
had  he  not  been  deranged  in  mind,  produced  by  ill  health.  He 
was  constitutionally,  and  in  a  measure  hereditarily,  prone  to  men- 
tal derangement;  and  he  was  four  times  placed  in  the  Hartford 
retreat  for  the  insane,  and  by  medical  aid  was  restored.  In  the 
summer  of  1838  he  was  dismissed.  In  the  spring  of  1840  he 
removed  to  Vernon,  in  Ohio,  and  while  occasionally  he  preached, 
he  became  an  instructor,  and  eventually  a  merchant  with  his  eldest 
son.  Previous  to  his  dismission  the  enterprise  of  North  Cornwall 
erected  a  very  commodious  and  handsome  house  for  divine  wor- 
ship, now  standing  toward  a  mile  north  of  the  former  house  that 
was  demolished. 

The  south  church  and  society  now  demand  attention. 

After  the  project  of  the  union  of  the  two  societies  was  in  1815 
given  up,  the  people  of  the  south  were  much  involved  in  debt,  by 
the  neglect  and  inattention  of  those  who  had  the  charge  of  their 
financial  concerns.  By  this  means  many  of  the  people  were  dis- 
satisfied. There  was  such  an  unpleasant  set  of  feelings  as  threat- 
ened almost  the  dissolution  of  the  ecclesiastical  society.  There 
were  many  that  had  greatly  desired  a  union  with  the  other  society; 
and  they  earnestly  wished  the  ecclesiastical  fund  to  be  destroyed. 
Therefore  there  were  jarring  opinions  and  feelings  among  those 
who  were  members  of  the  church.     Hence  religion  did  not  prosper. 

Notwithstanding  the  considerable  revival  enjoyed  in  the  winter 
of  1816,  when  the  same  blessing  was  granted,  and  to  a  greater 
11 


82  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

extent,  to  North  Cornwall,  spirituality  in  religion  was  now  much 
diminished  in  this  church.      The  prospect  was  indeed  gloomy. 
About  that  time,  the  pastor,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  church, 
instituted  meetings  to  be  held  once  in  two  weeks  in  different  parts 
of  the  society,  to  consist  of  members  of  the  church  and  of  baptized 
children.     The  places  of  the  meetings  were  so  allotted  as  to  accom- 
modate in  their  rotation  all  the  various  church  members  and  their 
famihes.    One  great  object  was  to  lead  baptized  children  to  consider 
their  pecuhar  relation  to  God  to  whom  they  had  been  dedicated,  also 
to  impress  on  beheving  parents  their  solemn  obhgations  to  train  up 
their  dedicated  children  in  "the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord."     This  plan  was  prosecuted  for  a  considerable  time;  and 
several  of  those  meetings  were   deeply  interesting.     Such  should 
have  been  the  conduct  of  this  church  long  before;  and  every  pedo- 
Baptist  church,  to  be  consistent  with  their  views  of  infant  bap- 
tism, ought  ever  to  regard  their  dedicated  children  in  a  very  dif- 
ferent manner  from  what  any  church  has  ever  done.     Let  this 
subject  be  treated  as  God,  and  the  conscience  of  a  well-informed 
believer  in  Christ,  and  in  infant  baptism  dictate,  and  infinite  and 
most  glorious  consequences  would   unquestionably  follow.      God 
would  then  turn  the  hearts  of  parents  to  their  children,  and  chil- 
dren to  their  parents,  in  a  way  that  has  never  yet  been  seen.     In 
the  blessed  and  approaching  period,  when  all  shall  know  the  Lord, 
something  like  such  meetings  will  be  regarded  universally  by  all 
the  churches  of  the  Lord  Jesus.     Then   the  -baptism  of  infants 
will  be  viewed  as  something  infinitely  more  important  than  a  mere 
ceremony,  and  to  give  a  name  to  a  child,  and  which,  according  to 
the  solemn  working  of  almost  all  christian  churches  holding  to 
infant  baptism,  very  significantly  is  called  cliristening.      Such  a 
term  is  very  appropriate  when  baptism  is  regarded  as  the  same  as 
that  regeneration  which  is  requisite  to  reach  heaven. 

In  the  autumn  of  1816,  an  event  interesting  to  the  people  and 
church  of  South  Cornwall,  excited  their  feehngs  and  greatly  ab- 
sorbed their  attention.  The  foreign  mission  school  was  by  the 
American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  located  in  Cornwall  Valley. 
This  place  was  chosen  because  of  its  retirement,  the  salubrity  of 
air,  and  the  moral  character  of  the  people,  and  especially  of  the 
youth;  many  of  them,  more  than  almost  in  any  other  society,  were 
professors  of  rehgion.  The  youth  of  the  society  were  then  un- 
usually sober  and  promising,  and  many  of  them  were,  more 
than  in  most  other  places,  informed  in  books,  and  bad  a  respect- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  83 

alile  library  of  their  own,  most  of  wMch  books  were  chosen  by 
their  pastor. 

Few  of  this  village  were  at  first  pleased  with  the  proposal  of 
this  establishment  among  them.  The  committee  appointed  by  the 
American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  came  to  propose  to  the  people 
this  seminary  when  the  minister  was  abroad,  and  they  received 
very  little  encouragement  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  village. 

But  on  the  return  of  the  minister,  and  on  his  giving  informa- 
tion of  the  design,  and  of  its  high  importance,  the  people  of  the 
vicinity  altered  their  opinion  concerning  it,  and  several  were  very 
liberal  in  their  donations  to  it. 

Henry  Obookiah,  with  Thomas  Hoppoe,  his  coiintryman,  who  a 
few  years  before  came  from  Hawaii,  were  instructed  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  were  patronized  by  the  ministers  and  religious  people  of 
Litchfield  County,  especially  those  of  the  north  consociation  of 
the  congregational  chu^rches.  A  few  other  Sandwich  Islanders, 
with  some  other  pagan  youth,  were  collected  at  the  school  of 
James  Morris,  Esq.,  of  Litchfield,  South  Farms,  in  1816.  But 
the  decision  of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  from 
the  report  of  their  committee,  at  their  meeting  at  Dr.  D wights', 
at  New  Haven,  in  October  of  that  year,  placed  the  institution  at 
Cornwall  Valley.  Rev.  Mr.  Harvey,  of  Goshen,  who  was  the 
most  active  in  promoting  this  design,  was  appointed  the  principal 
of  the  school.  But  the  great  unwillingness  of  the  people  of  Mr. 
Harvey  to  lose  their  pastor  decided  the  consociation  not  to  allow 
his  dismission. 

The  Rev.  Herman  Daggett,  who  then  was  engaged  for  a  year 
as  teacher  of  a  respectable  academy  at  New  Canaan,  in  Conn.,  and 
had  been  both  a  pastor  on  Long  Island,  and  a  distinguished  in- 
structor of  youth,  was  by  Rev.  Mr.  Beecher,  then  at  Litchfield, 
recommended  and  immediately  appointed  to  take  the  charge  of 
the  infant  institution  of  Cornwall  Valley.  But  the  instruction  of 
it  was  committed  to  Rev.  Edwin  Dwiglit,  who  came  with  the  for- 
eign youth  to  this  place  from  South  Farms  in  May,  1817.  The 
school  flourished  under  his  care.  The  death  of  Obookiah,  in  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1818,  and  the  narrative  of  him,  written  by  Mr.  Dwight, 
excited  very  uncommon  interest  in  the  minds  of  all  friends  to  the 
foreign  missionary  cause  throughout  our  country.  This  school 
had  a  celebrity  beyond  all  expectation.  The  vale  of  Cornwall 
became  known  in  almost  all  the  world  by  this  singular,  interesting, 
and  highly  prosperous  seminary. 


84  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

In  May,  1818,  Mr.  Daggett  came  here,  and  with  very  uncommon 
prudence,  piety,  and  wisdom  from  above,  guided  and  instructed 
for  six  years  between  eighty  and  one  hundred  youth  of  various 
foreign  and  pagan  nations.  There  were  here  more  languages 
spoken  than  are  specified  in  the  account  of  the  various  tongues  at 
the  day  of  pentecost  at  Jerusalem,  which  we  read  in  the  2d  of 
Acts. 

The  blessings  of  God's  spirit  were  very  unusually  sent  down 
once  and  again  on  this  school.  Many  of  Mr.  Daggett's  scholars 
were  baptized  and  received  in  the  church  of  South  Cornwall. 
And  most  of  these  conducted  consistently  with  their  holy  profes- 
sion. 

It  was  regarded  as  an  honor,  and  no  small  benefit  to  our  church, 
that  a  man  of  Mr.  Daggett's  intelhgence,  wisdom,  and  uncommon 
piety,  was  received  as  a  member.  His  opinion  and  judgment  were 
highly  estimated,  and  indeed  in  one  instance,  in  a  case  of  very 
difficult  and  unhappy  controversy  and  discipline,  it  was  believed 
by  the  pastor,  too  much  confidence  was  placed  in  that  wise  and 
goDd  man's  guidance,  which  led  the  church  to  an  error  of  judg- 
ment. 

Still  the  example  and  advice  of  this  good  man  was  a  great 
blessing,  and  had  his  practical  illustration  of  vital  piety  been 
much  more  regarded  and  imitated,  the  ehurch  of  South  Cornwall 
would  have  been  immensely  more  benefited.  This  school  was 
almost  continually  more  or  less  visited  by  the  divine  Spirit, — at 
times  it  resembled  a  green  oasis  amidst  a  sandy  desert.* 

In  1822  and  until  1824-5,  the  Foreign  Mission  school  in  Corn- 
wall Valley  was  highly  prosperous,  and  was  of  great  celebrity 
among  all  friends  to  the  cause  of  protestant  missions.  In  the 
winter  of  1823-4  the  marriage  between  John  Ridge,  a  Cherokee 
youth,  who  had  been  a  piipil  of  Mr.  Daggett,  and  had  gone 
home,  and  had  now  returned  to  Cornwall,  and  Sarah  Northup,  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  John  Northup,  steward  of  the  mission  school, 
produced  much  agitation  in  South  Cornwall;  an  agitation  which 


*  We  omit  an  account  occupying  eight  closely  written  pages,  of  a  difficulty 
between  two  church  members,  names  not  given,  in  which  one  sued  the  other  in 
the  courts,  resulting  in  the  excommunication  of  one  of  them  from  the  church. 
Fourteen  meetings  of  the  church  and  one  council  of  ministers  were  held  on  the 
case.  Mr.  Stone  closes  his  account  of  the  affair  thus :  "  But  the  church  has 
never  enjoyed  as  nmch  internal  peace,  united  with  so  much  spiritual  vigor  since 
that  period  as  before." 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  85 

would  not  have  been,  had  all  the  people  been  more  wise,  and  if 
both  the  friends  of  the  connection  and  the  opposers  of  it  had 
possessed  more  discretion.  Many  things  are  lawful  which  are  far 
from  being  expedient.  Had  such  who  wished  this  connection  to 
take  place,  known  more  of  human  nature,  and  the  prejudices  of 
society  in  which  they  lived  they  would  not  have  involved  them- 
selves and  others  in  such  evils  as  actually  took  place.  This  event 
greatly  embarrassed  the  mission  school,  and  led  to  great  evil  in 
the  church  and  society.  Especially,  the  repetition  of  a  similar 
connection  between  Ellas  Boudinot,  a  most  promising  and  pious 
Cherokee  youth  who  had  been  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Daggett,  with  Har- 
riet "W".  Gold,  a  young  lady  of  no  small  excellence,  and  of  one  of 
the  most  respectable  families  in  the  county  of  Litchfield  had  a 
fatal  influence  in  the  community  of  South  Cornwall.  Enemies  to 
the  missionary  cause,  and  who  had  ever  disliked  the  Cornwall 
school,  exulted  in  these  things  as  they  well  presumed  that  they 
would  exceedingly  injure  the  school. 

The  impartial  and  well-informed  friends  of  this  missionary 
institution,  who  were  personally  acquainted  with  the  operations 
of  these  concerns,  being  eye-witnesses,  were  much  grieved,  and 
involved  in  great  embarassments.  The  interests  of  the  church 
in  South  Cornwall  were  hurt  extremely,  as  unpleasant  feehngs 
were  cherished  toward  the  respectable  family  connected  with  this 
last  Indian  marriage,  it  being  believed  that  there  was  not  that 
sincerity  maintained,  which  ought  to  have  been,  in  so  long  conceal- 
ing from  public  view  the  intended  design. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  young  females  of  the  vicinity  of  the 
F.  M.  School,  were  worthy  members  of  the  church,  and  most 
favorably  disposed  to  the  missionary  institution.  Their  fair  char- 
acters were  grossly  calumniated  by  enemies  to  the  seminary.  All 
our  youth  were  excited  to  a  spirit  of  indignation  and  tempted  to 
some  acts  of  impropriety. 

But  none  suffered  so  much  as  the  pastor  of  the  church.  He 
loved  the  mission  school  ai^dently,  and  saw  the  prospect  of  its  dis- 
solution. He  loved  Boudinot  and  had  been  much  loved  by  him ; 
the  young  lady  was  a  most  sincere  friend  of  her  pastor.  Had  he 
been  in  the  Cherokee  nation  as  a  missionary,  he  would  most  cor 
dially  have  married  these  young  christian  friends,  whom  he  loved 
as  his  spiritual  children.  But  for  him  to  have  married,  in  Corn- 
wall, Boudinot  to  Harriet,  would  no  doubt  have  exposed  him  to 
immediate  personal  insult  and  abuse,   and  his  dismission  would 


86  HISTOEY    OF    CORNWALL. 

have  been  the  direct  consequence.  He  endeavored  to  harmonize 
and  conciliate  the  feelings  of  the  contending  parties  so  far  as  pos- 
sible— ^but  to  do  it  was  impossible.  He,  like  many  others,  who 
have  striven  to  reconcile  combatants,  received  the  blows  of  both, 
and  his  dismission,  a  few  years  after,  was  in  no  small  degree  the 
effect  of  this  Indian  marriage  connection. 

Ill  health,  which  he  had  experienced  for  four  years  and  a  half, 
from  November,  1822,  and  from  which  he  had  been  gradiially 
recovering,  was  the  professed  reason  why  about  one-half  of  the 
society  requested  his  dismission,  which  took  place  May  1,  1827. 
Other  motives  beside  these  ostensible  reasons,  operated  on  the- 
minds  of  the  younger  class.  A  more  popular  preacher  and  one 
of  more  eloquence  was  desired.  He  would  not  contend  with  the 
flock  with  whom  he  had  been  connected  for  toward  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  as  pastor.  It  was  a  peaceful  separation,  although  to  him 
it  was  extremely  painful.  After  the  severity  of  his  feelings  sub- 
sided, he  ever  rejoiced  that  he  conducted  as  he  did.  Nothing 
tends  more  to  injure  the  cause  of  religion  than  for  a  pastor  to 
quarrel  with  his  flock.  The  thought  of  a  quarrel  of  this  sort  was 
more  painful  than  a  dismission. 

The  sickness  referred  to,  was  a  severe  fever,  continuing  many 
weeks;  life  was  almost  extinct,  and  death  thought  most  probably 
to  be  the  result.  For  seventy  days  strength  was  too  much  pros- 
trated to  allow  walking.  He  had  two  watchers  every  night  for 
nearly  three  months  ;  during  which  period  the  kindness  of  his 
people  was  exceedingly  great ;  especially  the  foreign  youth  of  the 
mission  school  manifested  the  most  peculiar  affection  to  the  sick 
minister  and  to  his  family.  On  his  recovering  in  the  spring  of 
1823,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Strong,  who  had  been  pastor  of  North  Wood- 
bury, was  hired  by  the  society  for  four  weeks.  Afterward  the 
pastor,  being  still  an  invalid,  hired  preaching  at  his  own  expense 
to  the  amount  of  between  thirty  and  forty  dollars. 

In  the  winter  of  1827-8,  the  dismissed  minister  was  so  well  as 
to  go  to  East  Hampton,  the  east  parish  of  Chatham,  on  Connec- 
ticut river,  where  he  was,  on  the  first  of  May,  1828,  installed  pas- 
tor. There  he  continued  three  years  and  eight  months.  His 
family  could  not  leave  Cornwall,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  ill 
health  of  his  wife.  During  his  ministry  at  East  Hampton,  there 
was,  in  the  winter  of  1828-9,  a  very  uncommon  religious  ex- 
citement among  his  people,  and  no  doubt  many  were  truly  con- 
verted.    The  Methodists  took  an  active  part  in  this  revival,  with 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTOKY.  87 

whom  the  East  Hampton  pastor  had,  for  the  most  part,  a  friendly 
correspondence,  often  meeting  together. 

It  is  important  to  refer  back  to  the  summer  of  1826.  At  that 
time  there  were  many  indications  of  a  religious  revival  in  South 
Cornwall.  There  were  a  few  hopeful  conversions;  but  the  influ- 
ential members  of  the  church  did  not  (a  very  few  exceptions 
only)  take  any  interest  in  the  prospect  of  a  rQvival.  At  that  time 
the  dismission  of  the  pastor  was  no  doubt  secretly  intended,  and 
when  he  knew  nothing  of  it !  I  !  I 

On  July  25,  1827,  the  Rev.  William  Andrews,  who  had  been 
the  pastor  of  Danbury,  and  previously  of  Windham,  was  installed 
pastor  of  South  Cornwall. 

After  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Smith  in  1838,  the  north  church 
and  society  were  destitute  of  a  pastor  until  January,  1841.  In  the 
summer  of  1838,  and  in  the  succeeding  autumn  and  winter,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Tracy  preached  to  them,  and  his  ministerial  labors  were 
accompanied  with  happy  success.  He  was  unusually  plain  and 
pungent  both  in  public  and  private  in  urging  sinners  to  repent- 
ance; and  so  much  so,  as  to  give  oifence  to  many.  Whether  he 
was  in  all  cases  entirely  wise  and  prudent  is  doubtful  ;  still  his 
endeavors  to  excite  and  promote  a  religious  revival  were  not  in 
vain.  Many  were  the  subjects  of  hopeful  conversion,  and  many 
of  them  were  young  heads  of  families,  and  of  respectable,  influ- 
ential characters.  In  the  spring  of  1839,  fifty  were  united  with 
the  church,  most  of  that  number  at  one  time.  This  church  and 
society  were  now  rising  fast  in  respectability  and  in  the  order 
and  peace  of  the  gospel,  manifesting  most  evidently  that  the  union 
of  the  two  congregational  churches  of  Cornwall  was  not  a  desir- 
able event.  After  Mr.  Tracy  had  left  them,  who  had  no  intention 
of  being  settled  as  the  pastor  of  this  people,  no  candidate  was 
employed  with  view  of  his  settlement,  until  the  summer  of  1840, 
when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Joshua  L.  Maynard,  a  native  of  New  London 
county,  who  was  educated  at  New  York  City,  and  studied  theology 
there,  preached  as  a  candidate.  With  great  unanimity  he  was 
settled  as  their  pastor.  His  ordination  was  January,  1841.  Rev. 
Mr.  Andrews  of  Kent  preached  on  the  occasion. 

Mr.  Maynard's  ministry  was  blessed  uncommonly;  and  in  the 
winter  of  1846  and  1847  a  great  religious  excitement  was,  for  sev- 
eral months,  witnessed  among  the  people  of  his  charge.  The  scene 
was  deeply  solemn;  no  irregularities  or  any  indications  of  enthusi- 
astic feelings  were  displayed,  as  had  been  so  unhappily  manifested 


88  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

in  the  course  of  the  twenty  years  past,  in  many  parts  of  our  coun- 
try, where  new  measures  and  artificial  management  had  produced 
among  thousands  a  prejudice  against  genuine  revivals  of  religion. 
At  North  Cornwall  all  was  still  and  impressive;  and,  what  was  yet 
more  extraordinary,  there  was  no  similar  revivals  in  any  adjacent 
society.  In  the  society  of  South  Cornwall  repeated  weekly  meet- 
ings of  the  church  were  held  with  the  pastor,  Eev.  Mr.  Day;  and 
a  small  degree  of  interest  was  felt  in  regard  to  the  spiritual  condi- 
tion of  the  people;  and  a  few  were  the  hopeful  subjects  of  religion. 
But  nothing  more  appeared  to  be  the  result  of  the  prayer  meetings. 

A  more  solemn  and  impressive  scene  of  a  religious  revival  was 
never  witnessed  by  the  writer  of  this  narrative,  during  his  observ- 
ations of  fifty  years;  nor,  indeed,  did  he  ever  hear  of  a  revival 
much  more  interesting  or  more  happy  in  its  results.  At  the  com- 
munion of  North  Cornwall,  on  the  first  Sabbath  of  May,  about  100 
were  received  into  the  church.  Several  of  them  were  respectable 
and  influential  heads  of  families.  This  society  is  not  large,  and 
therefore,  according  to  the  population,  not  any  ecclesiastical  society 
of  Congregationalists  in  any  place  have  enjoyed  a  religious  revival 
greater  than  North  Cornwall. 

Tlius  the  historical  sketch  of  that  church  and  society  is  brought 
to  a  close.  North  Cornwall's  Congregational  church  is  now  in  a 
very  prosperous  condition,  as  much  so  as  any  in  our  own  country, 
excepting  that,  as  in  most  of  her  sister  churches,  zeal  and  love  are 
now  apparently  declining.  The  installation  of  Rev.  Mr.  Andrews, 
the  immediate  successor  of  the  writer,  was  July  25,  1827.  Rev. 
Mr.  Punderson,  of  Huntington,  a  special  friend  of  Mr.  Andrews, 
preached  on  the  occasion.  There  was  but  a  small  congregation 
assembled.  In  the  call  of  Mr.  Andrews  by  the  church  and  society 
there  was  unanimity  The  dismissed  minister  exerted  his  influence 
for  Mr.  Andrews'  settlement.  Rev.  William  Andrews  was  born  at 
Ellington,  in  this  State,  and  graduated  at  Middlebury,  Vermont. 
Having  studied  theology  with  Dr.  Burton,  of  Tlietford,  Vt.,  he 
was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  of  Windham, 
of  this  State.  Having  been  dismissed  at  his  own  request,  he  was 
installed  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Danbury.  He  continued 
there,  until  a  very  unhappy  controversy  took  place,  occasioned  by 
a  very  perplexing  case  of  church  discipline  (when  the  majority 
of  the  church  sustained  Mr.  Andrews  in  his  proceedings,  while  a 
majority  of  the  society  was  adverse  to  him),  he  was  then  dismissed. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  89 

Mr.  Andrews  was  a  sound  divine,  an  uncommonly  good  sermonizer, 
possessing  a  good  logical  mind,  and  was  a  superior  scholar. 

His  ministry  at  Danbury  was,  until  a  controversy  commenced, 
more  than  usually  happy  and  successful.  He  continued  here  in 
his  ministry  for  ten  years  and  nearly  six  months,  till,  on  the  first 
day  of  January,  1838,  he  died  peacefully,  relying  on  Christ;  hav- 
ing  been  for  considerable  time  very  infirm,  and  for  several  weeks 
incapable  of  performing  any  ministerial  services. 

Previous  to  the  dismission  of  his  predecessor  the  society  was,  in 
consequence  of  the  confusion  of  the  Indian  marriages,  and  the 
infirm  health  of  the  pastor,  although  he  was  gradually  recovering 
it,  sinking  down  into  a  declension.  On  the  settlement  of  Mr. 
Andrews,  efforts  were  made  to  build  up  society  secularly,  and  to 
maintain  respectability  as  a  parish,  manifestly  appeared  to  have 
been  no  small  object  in  their  efforts.  When  vital  piety  is  the  chief 
object  of  a  church,  and  genuine  revivals  are  enjoyed,  temporal 
prosperity  is  the  invariable  result.  Considerable  pains  were  taken 
to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Sabbath-schools.  Mr.  Andrews 
was  a  sermonizer  of  superior  order.  His  style  was  exceedingly 
neat  and  perspicuous,  and  the  truths  of  divine  revelation  and 
sound  Calvinistic  doctrines  were  plainly  and  faithfully  exhibited. 
His  speaking  was  good,  without  any  oratorical  display.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  his  manner  was  regarded  not  a  little. 

His  ministry  was  accompanied  with  success.  A  special  revival 
was  enjoyed  in  the  winter  of  1829  and  1830,  and  during  his  ten 
years'  ministry  sixty-three,  by  profession,  were  received  into  the 
church. 

His  health  was,  during  the  latter  half  of  his  ministerial  labors, 
quite  infirm.  The  society,  as  such,  was  becoming  weaker,  and  the 
old  house  of  public  worship  was  less  frequented,  while  the  youth 
in  the  gallery  were  light  and  irregular  in  their  deportment. 
Religion  sensibly  decayed.  At  the  decease  of  Mr.  Andrews  the 
prospect  was  dark.  His  funeral  was  very  respectfully  attended  by 
several  ministers  and  by  a  full  congregation.  The  Rev.  Grant 
Powers,  of  Goshen,  preached  on  the  occasion  a  sermon  that  was 
soon  issued  from  the  press. 

The  Rev.  Wm.  W.  Andrews,  who  was  ordained  pastor  of  Kent, 
May,  1834,  the  oldest  son  of  Mr.  Andrews,  was  exceedingly  pop- 
ular as  a  preacher,  and  of  a  most  amiable  character.  He  was  a 
superior  scholar,  and  was  highly  esteemed  by  all  the  people  of 
South  Cornwall,  being  everywhere  popular.  It  had  been  reported 
12 


90  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

that  his  father  gave  as  his  dying  request  that  this  son  might  be  his 
successor  at  South  Cornwall. 

The  influential  members  of  both  church  and  society  deemed  it 
highly  important  for  the  building  up  of  the  society  that  this  young 
minister  should  be  removed  from  Kent  to  this  place. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  pleasant  to  the  family  of  that 
lovely  and  most  intelligent  young  man,  especially  to  his  widowed 
mother,  than  for  him  to  come  and  take  the  place  of  his  father. 
But  Kent  regarded  itself  no  way  inferior  in  respectability  to  South 
Cornwall.  That  people  were  strongly  attached  to  their  minister, 
and  therefore  were  highly  indignant  at  our  people  in  calling  away 
their  pastor  by  an  offer  of  an  increase  of  one  hundred  dollars  to 
his  salary.  This  was  disingenuous  conduct.  But  great  allowance 
should  be  made  for  the  friends  of  Mr.  Andrews  and  his  family  in 
their  peculiar  circumstances  of  temptation.  The  writer  was  an 
ardent  friend  of  this  young  minister,  and  had  he  not  been  settled 
a  pastor,  Mr.  Andrews  would  have  been  chosen  to  be  the  pastor 
here  in  preference  to  another  candidate,  excepting  that  Mr. 
Andrews  was  much  attached  to  the  singular  views  of  the  celebrated 
Irving  of  Holland,  who  maintained  the  doctrine  of  the  near 
approach  of  Christ's  second  advent,  in  opposition  to  the  spirit- 
ual millennium  which  is  so  clearly  foretold  in  the  prophetical 
writings. 

These  views  of  Mr.  Andrews  were  regarded  by  the  writer  of 
this  statement  as  quite  injurious  to  those  efforts  which  the  church 
is  under  obligations  to  make  to  evangelize  the  world.  Hence,  with 
all  the  partiality  of  friendship,  and  a  high  esteem  for  Mr.  Andrews, 
as  a  man  of  uncommon  amiability,  and  of  excellent  mental  endow- 
ments and  acquisitions  he  could  not  desire  him  to  be  pastor  of  this 
church.  At  a  meeting  of  the  church  he  remonstrated  against  an 
invitation  of  Mr.  Andrews — and  was  thereby  an  object  of  no  small 
reproach  for  a  season.  Mr.  Andi-ews  did  not  accept  the  call.  His 
conduct  was  altogether  honorable,  as  he  did  not  encourage  his 
friends  here  that  he  would  accept  such  an  invitation. 

The  Rev.  Nathaniel  M.  Urmston,  a  native  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio, 
who  had  studied  theology  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  and  had  been  pastor 
for  two  or  three  years  at  Newtown,  Conn.,  was  installed  here  June 
28,  1838.  He  continued  in  his  office  only  twenty-two  months. 
There  was  opposition  to  his  settlement  at  first;  it  was  not  large  in 
number,  but  the  character  of  the  opposers  was  respectable.  These 
persons  had  been  the  most  ardent  advocates  for  inviting  Mr.  An- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. 


91 


drews,  of  Kent.  This  opposition  did  not  decrease.  Mr,  Urmston 
was  truly  a  worthy  man,  of  good  mind,  sound  and  thorough  in  his 
views  of  divine  truth,  had  good  health,  was  able  to  perform  all  the 
laborious  services  of  a  pastor  with  ease,  and  possessed  a  strong 
voice  and  was  easily  heard  by  such  as  were  afflicted  with  deafness. 
His  voice,  however,  was  not  pleasant,  but  rather  displeasing  to  such 
as  were  fastidious  as  to  what  they  heard. 

Mr.  Urmston  was  quite  independent  in  his  judgment  and 
opinions;  and  did  not  possess  that  ease  and  familiarity  in  his  con- 
versation that  distinguished  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Andrews.  Also  he 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  district  schools,  of  which  he  was  chosen 
the  first  school  visitor.  He,  in  his  determination  of  maintaining 
strict  order  in  the  conduct  of  the  school  boys,  was  in  a  measure 
imprudent,  by  which  he  lost  some  influence.  His  wife  was  an 
infirm  person,  and  therefore  he  did  not  visit  his  people  so  much  as 
he  otherwise  probably  would  have  done.  No  prospect  appeared 
that  his  influence  would  be  increased  for  doing  good;  and  as  the 
opposition  to  him  was  evidently  increased  his  best  friends  intimated 
to  him  the  propriety  of  calling  a  consociation  to  decide  whether 
a  dismission  was  not  advisable.  Mr.  Urmston,  being  a  man  of 
good  sense,  took  no  umbrage  at  the  suggestion,  as  he  knew  his 
friends  were  sincere  in  their  friendship,  and  therefore  the  majority 
of  his  church  at  his  request  called  the  consociation  which  met  the 
first  of  April,  1840.  That  body  did  not  advise  his  dismission. 
But  the  first  of  May,  at  the  installation  of  Kev.  Mr.  Brownell  at 
Sharon,  Mr.  Urmston  having  obtained  the  consent  of  the  church 
urged  and  obtained  a  regular  dismission ;  and  a  very  good  recom- 
mendation was  given  him  by  the  consociation. 

In  the  course  of  the  winter  of  1838  and  1839  there  was  a 
manifest  revival  of  religion  in  the  society,  at  the  time  when 
Eev.  Mr.  Tracy  was  laboring  successfully  in  North  Cornwall. 
Several  were  anxious  for  their  salvation,  and  a  few  were  hopefully 
converted.  About  sixteen  were  received  into  the  church  during 
his  ministry  of  twenty-two  months.  He  was  active  in  his  minis- 
terial duty,  not  only  on  the  Sabbath  but  in  attending  religious 
meetings  in  the  week.  His  bodily  health  was  firm,  and  he  had  no 
occasion  to  call  in  the  aid  of  his  ministerial  brethren.  There  was 
indeed  a  very  favorable  prospect  of  an  extensive  revival  in  South 
Cornwall.  But  Mr.  Urmston  soon  felt  discouragements  on  account 
of  the  apparent  indifference  of  influential  members  of  the  church. 
And  certainly  he  had  some  ground  for  such  an  apprehension. 


92  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

It  is  truly  melancholy  to  witness  the  private  and  partial  feelings 
of  Christ's  disciples  operating  against  His  cause.  Had  there  not 
been  opposition  to  Mr.  Urmston's  settlement,  there  is  just  reason 
to  believe  that  he  would  have  had  more  effectual  aid  from  his 
church.  Mr.  Urmston  was  afterward  installed  pastor  of  a  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

In  the  summer  of  1840  the  Rev.  John  Williams  Salter,  a  native 
of  Mansfield,  in  this  State,  who  had  been  a  pastor  at  Kingston, 
Mass.,  near  old  Plymouth,  was  employed  as  a  preacher  and  candi- 
date for  settlement,  and  continued  here  until  April,  1841. 

His  preaching  was  acceptable,  and  his  manners  and  disposition 
were,  though  somewhat  eccentric,  very  agreeable.  Had  he  been 
disposed  to  have  continued  still  longer,  and  until  the  new  church 
(which  he  was  influential  in  building)  had  been  erected,  most 
probably  he  would  have  been  chosen  pastor  by  a  large  proportion 
of  the  society. 

Energetic  efforts  were  made,  especially  by  the  inhabitants  of  Corn- 
wall Valley,  to  build  this  church  edifice.  The  southern  sections  of 
the  society,  beyond  Colt's-foot  mountain  and  on  the  Housatonic  river, 
were  at  first  quite  favorable,  or  at  least  apparently,  to  this  design. 
When  the  people  of  the  vicinity  of  the  meeting-house  were  found 
quite  active  and  liberal  in  their  intentions  of  building,  the  people 
of  the  northern  sections  appeared  to  draw  back,  pleading  that 
they  intended  to  build  a  house  for  worship  to  their  accommoda- 
tion in  their  vicinity.  This  excited  a  set  of  very  unpleasant  feel- 
ings which  are  not  yet  forgotten — especially  as  they  have  not  to 
the  present  day  done  anything  to  erect  such  a  building. 

It  should  be  not  forgotten,  that  after  the  dismission  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Urmston  all  previous  unpleasant  feelings  among  the  people  during 
Mr.  Salter's  preaching  were  apparently  gone.  His  influence  was 
unusually  happy  in  promoting  harmony.  The  temper  of  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Urmston  in  their  concessions  to  his  dismission 
tended  not  a  little  to  this  peace. 

The  situation  of  the  people  of  the  southern  section  of  the 
society,  being  quite  remote  from  Cornwall  Valley,  which  is  situated 
on  the  northern  border  of  the  parish,  naturally  produced  among 
those  who  were  thus  separated  by  Colt's-foot  mountain  from  the 
village  of  the  church  edifice,  unpleasant  feelings.  This  sectional 
party  spirit  was  promoted  at  the  erection  of  the  new  house  of 
worship.  This  new  building,  begun  in  the  summer  of  1841,  was 
finished  in  the  winter  of  1842,  and  in  February  was  dedicated,  a 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  93 

very  large  assembly  being  convened,  an  excellent  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Kev.  Adam  Reid,  of  Salisbury.  Various  candi- 
dates were  called  to  preach  after  Mr.  Salter,  without  suflBcient 
union  to  obtain  a  pastor  until  February  28,  1844,  when  the  Rev. 
Hiram  Day  was  ordained. 

It  is  doubted  whether,  within  half  a  century,  there  has  been  in 
our  churches  an  instance  of  a  pastor  being  installed  against  so 
great  an  opposition  as  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Day.  About  one-third 
of  the  legal  voters  of  the  society  and  nearly  one-fourth  of  the 
church  appeared  in  their  formal  protest  before  the  consociation 
against  his  ordination.  All  but  two  or  three  of  the  ministers  in 
this  council,  voted  at  first  that  although  they  approved  of  the 
character  and  qualifications  of  the  candidate,  still  they  ought  not 
to  disregard  so  large  an  opposition*  A  majority  of  the  delegates 
of  the  churches  voted  to  ordain  him ;  and  at  length  a  majority  of 
the  presbyters  concurred. 

Previous  to  this,  an  unhappy  party  spirit  existed.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Blodgett  (afterward  the  pastor  of  Greenwich,  in  Mass.)  was  the 
object  of  the  choice  of  almost  all,  but  there  was  some  opposition; 
and  as  he  had  declared  that  he  should  not  receive  any  call  that 
was  not  unanimous,  no  formal  invitation  was  extended  to  him. 
He  was  an  excellent  man,  a  fine  classical  scholar,  a  distinguished 
Hebrewist,  and  a  sound  and  well-read  divine.  Many  were  very 
urgent  to  settle  him  as  their  pastor. 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1843,  the  Rev.  John  Sessions,  who 
had  been  Presbyterian  pastor  of  a  church  in  the  town  of  Norwich, 
Chenango  County,  N.  Y.,  was  invited  to  settle.  He  was  a  very 
superior  man  in  intellect,  and  a  thorough  theologian.  He  was  a 
student  at  the  theological  seminary  of  Princeton,  and  an  excellent 
sermonizer.  All  the  church,  except  the  youngest  deacon,  were, 
at  the  first  vote,  united  in  calling  him,  and  the  society  was  nearly 
as  much  desirous  to  settle  him. 

But  through  the  opposition  of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  church, 
and  hesitancy  as  to  the  support  offered,  he  gave  a  negative  answer, 
to  the  great  regret  and  (it  is  believed  by  the  writer)  to  the  very 
great  injury  of  the  society.  After  this,  he  offered  to  come  back, 
but  a  large  minority  opposed  him.  This  produced  a  most  unhappy 
schism,  and  renewed  the  sad  sectional  divisions  already  referred  to. 
This  undoubtedly  had  influence  in  dividing  the  society,  about  one- 
third  being  against  and  two-thirds  for  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Day. 
This  opposition  did  not  decrease.     At  the  annual  meeting  of  con^ 


94  HISTOKY    OF   CORNWALL. 

sociation,  in  September,  1848,  Mr.  Day  was  dismissed;  when  it  is 
evident  that  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  retain  his  ground,  in 
spite  of  so  large  an  opposition.  Let  a  minister  be  possessed  of  all 
ministerial  qualifications,  he  is  not  an  object  of  the  choice  of  the 
writer,  who  is  willing  to  continue  in  his  ministry  against  such 
opposition,  excepting  where  he  is  opposed  on  account  of  his  holding 
to  essential  truths  of  the  Gospel.  In  such  case,  it  may  be  proper 
for  such  a  pastor  to  stand  firm  against  heresy.  But  this  was  not 
the  situation  of  Mr.  Day.  Never  has  the  writer,  who  has  been 
toward  half  a  century  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  seen  so  much  evil 
in  any  ecclesiastical  society,  by  party  spirit,  as  was  promoted  by 
the  determined  purpose  of  Mr.  Day  to  stand  his  ground.  Still, 
Mr.  Day  was  a  man  of  piety.  He  was  supported  by  the  party 
spirit  of  his  advocates.  Rev.  Warren  Andrews,  the  principal  of 
Alger  Institute,  supplied  the  pulpit  till  the  spring  of  1849,  when 
his  younger  brother,  Rev.  Ebenezer  Andrews,  was  engaged  to 
preach  for  a  year. 

.Extract  from  the  Centennial  Sermon  o/ Rev.  Samuel  J.  White,  D.D., 

taking  up  the  history  of  the  First  Congregational   Church  as  left  by 

Mr.  Stone: 

Two  years  after  the  dismission  of  Rev.  Mr.  Day,  the  Rev.  Ralph 
Smith  was  installed  pastor,  September,  1851.  He  is  regarded  by 
the  people  of  his  charge  as  a  refined  and  cultivated  scholar  and 
able  preacher.  The  church  records  contain  no  account  of  his 
labors.  He  was  dismissed  May  3,  1855.  As  near  as  I  can  learn, 
thirty-three  united  with  the  church  during  his  pastorate.  What 
proportion  by  profession  of  faith,  I  cannot  learn. 

From  September,  1855,  to  September,  1857,  Rev.  Ira  Pettibone 
was  "  acting  pastor  "  of  the  church.  The  church  records  are  silent 
in  respect  to  his  labors.  I  learn,  from  the  hst  of  members,  that 
twelve  united  with  the  church  during  his  ministry;  how  many  by 
letter,  and  how  many  by  profession  of  faith,  I  cannot  learn. 

Rev.  Stephen  Fenn  was  installed  pastor  May,  1859,  and  dis- 
missed December,  1867.  During  his  pastorate  of  eight  years  and 
six  months,  fifty-eight  united  with  the  church.  The  church  records 
do  not  contain  much  in  respect  to  his  ministry.  I  have  ah-eady 
stated  the  substance  of  all  that  I  can  gather.  His  labors  were  very 
acceptable  to  the  people,  and  were  very  much  blessed.  He  loved 
his  people  ardently,  and  was  tenderly  loved  by  them. 

Rev.  Elias  B.  Sanford  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  this 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTOEY.  95 

church  July  7,  1869.  The  installation  sermon  was  preached  by- 
Rev.  Mr.  Backus,  of  Thomaston.  There  is  a  copy  of  Mr.  Sanford's 
letter  of  acceptance  on  the  church  book,  and  the  action  of  the 
church  preparatory  to  his  installation.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
church,  September  7,  1871,  they  voted  to  unite  with  Mr.  San- 
ford  in  dissolving  the  pastoral  relation.  During  his  pastorate  of 
two  years  and  three  months,  ten  were  added  to  the  church. 

Rev.  N.  A.  Prince  was  installed  pastor  of  this  church,  June  28, 
1872.  There  is  no  record  in  the  church  book  of  any  action  of  the 
church  in  respect  to  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Prince.  I  learn  from 
the  society  book  that  he  was  dismissed  May  12,  1874.  Six  united 
with  the  church  during  his  pastorate.  He  was  regarded  by  his 
people  as  a  preacher  of  much  ability.  He  labored  under  peculiar 
embarrassments  and  discouragements,  which  those  who  know  the 
facts  can  appreciate. 

This  brings  us  down  to  June  1,  1875,  at  which  time  the  writer, 
Rev.  Samuel  J.  White,  became  "Acting  Pastor." 

At  this  writing,  July  3,  1877,  he  has  been  connected  with  this 
people  two  years  and  one  month.  So  far  as  he  knows,  there  is 
great  harmony  in  him  among  his  people.  He  has  received  many 
tokens  of  their  good  will  and  affection,  and  they  are  assured  of  his 
pastoral  love  and  care. 

Last  winter,  the  Second  church,  with  their  pastor,  Rev.  C.  N. 
Fitch,  united  with  us  in  observing  the  week  of  prayer.  As  a  fruit 
of  our  quickened  and  improved  spiritual  state,  twenty-one  have 
already  united,  by  profession  of  faith,  with  the  church,  and  more 
are  expected  to  unite  in  due  time.  During  the  writer's  ministry 
with  the  church,  twenty-three  have  united  by  profession,  and  two 
by  letter. 

This  church  has  had  ten  settled  pastors,  whose  united  pastorates 
cover  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years;  and  allowing  twelve  years 
for  intervals  between  the  pastorates,  the  length  of  each  is  about 
twelve  years  and  six  months. 

Since  the  formation  of  the  church  nineteen  deacons  have  been 
ordained,  viz. : 

Deacons  of  First  Congregational  Church  since  its  Formation. 

John  Harris,  -  -  -  Date  of  appointment  unknown. 

Phiuehas  Waller,        .  -  -  "  "  " 

Benjamin  Sedgwick,  -  -  -  "  "  " 

Samuel  Abbott,  .  -  -  "  " 

Tliomas  Porter,  -  -  -  Chosen  Oct.  8th,  17G5. 

Elijah  Steel,  -  -  -  »       June  34th,  1773. 


96  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL, 

Judah  Kellogg,  -        -         -     Chosen  June  20th,  1776. 

Josiah  Hopkins, 


Benjamin  Gold, 
Abel  C.  Carter, 
Jedidiah  Calhoun, 
Victorianus  Clark, 
Henry  Swift, 
Silas  P.  Judson, 
Marcus  D.  F.  Smith,  - 
Robert  T.  Miner, 
George  H.  Swift, 
Silas  C.  Beers, 
Harlan  Ives. 


July  9th,  1813. 

u         u         u 

Dec.  — ,  1819. 
March  4th,  1831. 
July  21st,  1839. 

u  ((  u 

Jan.  5th,  1855. 
Jan.  6th,  1867. 

U  U  (( 

Dec.  13th,  1868. 


Of  these  deacons,  Phinelias  Waller  and  Elijah  Steel,  at  the  time 
of  division,  went  with  the  Second  Church.  It  is  said  that  Deacon 
Steel  became  a  Quaker  in  sentiment,  and  his  successor  was  chosen 
four  years  before  the  division,  and  that  Deacon  Waller  was  not  act- 
ing. So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  these  nineteen  deacons 
were  all  true  men.  They  may  sometimes  have  erred  in  judgment, 
but  by  divine  grace  they  honored  their  profession  and  office.  Of 
course  some  of  them  were  more  marked  in  their  intellectual 
strength,  moral  power,  and  Christian  activity,  than  others. 

Among  the  first  elected  was  Benjamin  Sedgwick,  patriarch  of 
a  large  and  distinguished  family,  some  of  which  have  ranked 
high  in  civil  and  military  life. 

If  time  would  permit,  we  might  speak  of  Deacon  Judah  Kellogg, 
a  gentleman  of  liberal  education — a  graduate  of  Yale  College — a 
man  whose  counsel  was  sought  when  questions  of  civil  law  were 
involved;  of  Thomas  Porter,  Josiah  Hopkins,  Benjamin  Gold, 
Victorianus  Clark,  Henry  Swift,  Silas  P.  Judson  (for  many  years 
clerk  of  the  church),  Jedidiah  Calhoun,  always  prompt  and  lib- 
eral, and  kept  "loose  ends "  well  tied  up.  These  having  witnessed 
a  good  profession,  died  in  faith  and  hope. 

In  passing,  we  would  not  fail  to  pay  our  tribute  of  respect  to 
the  late  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  warm  friend  and  benefactor  of  this 
town  and  church.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Cornwall  Library, 
and  bequeathed  to  it  $2,000,  the  interest  of  which  is  to  be  annually 
expended  in  the  purchase  of  books.  He  also  bequeathed  $2,000 
to  our  cemetery,  the  interest  to  be  annually  expended  in  improv- 
ing and  ornamenting  the  grounds.  These  noble  bequests  can  but 
perpetuate  his  influence  and  embalm  his  memory  in  the  affections 
of  the  citizens  of  this  town. 

I  have  been  giving  a  short  history  of  the  Spiritual  temple  of  God ; 
I  will  now  briefly  speak  of  the  house  or  houses  made  by  hands. 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  97 

The  first  resolution  passed  by  the  people  of  Cornwall — in  town 
meeting  assembled  A.  D.  1740 — was  to  get  a  minister;  and  the 
second  was  like  unto  it,  viz.,  to  build  a  "Meetinghouse."  In  due 
time  the  minister  was  obtained,  and  the  house  was  commenced — I 
will  not  say  built — I  think  it  never  was  built. 

In  1745  the  town  passed  a  resolution  accepting  the  house  of  the 
builders,  so  far  as  the  work  had  progressed,  and  ordered  that  it  be 
set  apart  to  God  for  purposes  of  worship. 

The  house  was  only  covered  with  shingles  and  clapboards,  and 
in  it  the  people  worshiped,  summer  and  winter,  without  fire,  except 
what  burned  upon  God's  altar.  The  church  was  located  in  Corn- 
wall Center,  a  mile  distant  from  this  village. 

In  1790  this  church  was  taken  down,  enlarged,  and  put  up 
again  in  this  village,  near  where  the  liberty-pole  now  stands. 

In  1840  or  1841,  the  "  old  house  "  was  torn  down,  and  the  pres- 
ent one  built. 

While  upon  this  subject  I  would  call  your  attention  to  this  pul- 
pit, from  which  I  am  now  addressing  you.  A  few  days  since 
Esquire  Kellogg  said  to  me  that  he  had  in  his  garret  a  relic  which 
might  be  of  some  interest  on  this  Centennial  year.  He  brought  it 
out  from  its  hiding  place,  brushed  the  cobwebs  and  dust  from  it, 
and  it  proved  to  be  the  veritable  primitive  pulpit  of  the  town  of 
Cornwall. 

When  the  old  church  was  being  torn  down.  Esquire  Kellogg 
requested  that  he  might  have  the  pulpit  as  his  share  of  the  spoils. 
We  owe  him  a  vote  of  thanks  for  his  thoughtful  care  of  what  is 
primitive.  The  Pope  places  his  rehcs  on  exhibition,  why  not  we 
ours  ? 

This  pulpit  has  not  a  seam  or  joint  in  it.  It  is  carved  solid  from 
a  primitive  pine  tree  that  grew  upon  these  primitive  hills. 

Rev.  Solomon  Palmer  was  the  first  to  read  the  word  of  God  and 
preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  from  this  pulpit ;  and  after  the  lapse  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty-one  years,  I  have  the  honor  to  be  the  last 
who  has  read  this  same  word  of  God  and  preached  the  same  gos- 
pel from  this  pulpit.  And  what  a  history  that  of  which  this  relic 
is  witness,  lying  between  the  dates  1745  and  1876  ! 

In  1874  our  beautiful  chapel  was  built  upon  the  grounds  upon 
which  the  old  mission  house  of  the  American  Board  once  stood. 

One  century  ago  we  became  a  free  and  independent  nation.  It 
is  wonderful  to  contemplate  the  progress  made  during  this  time. 
In  what  is  useful  and  facilitates  the  labor  of  man,  there  has  been 
13 


98  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

more  progress  than  in  many  centuries  before.  Light  is  shining 
brightly  in  some  places,  and  beginning  to  dawn  in  others;  and 
progress,  slow  and  sure,  is  a  clear  omen  that  in  the  end  the  whole 
earth  shall  be  radiant  with  the  light  of  science,  art,  literature,  free 
institutions,  and  the  knowledge  of  God. 

We  joke  about  seeing  the  next  Centennial.     It  is  no  joke. 

It  is  no  joke  that  none  of  us  will  be  present  when  the  next 
Centennial  Sermon  is  preached  from  this  desk;  that  we  shall  all 
be  on  that  shore  of  life  where  years  and  centuries  are  like  the 
seconds  and  minutes  on  our  clock-dials;  where  "  a  thousand  years 
is  as  one  day."  0  Time  !  thy  greatest  measurements  are  but  the 
tickings  of  eternity's  watch. 


On  Sunday,  July  15,  1866,  when  there  was  no  one  to  supply  the 
pulpit.  Deacon  E.  R.  Pratt  read  to  the  congregation  the  substance 
of  the  following  discourse  on  the  history  of  the  Second  Ecclesias- 
tical Church  and  Society  in  Cornwall.  He  subsequently  extended 
it  to  a  later  date,  and  furnished  it  for  publication  in  this  work: 

History  of  North  Cornwall  Church  and  Society. 

1  think  I  may  safely  infer  that  there  are  none  present  here  to-day 
who  have  arrived  at  mature  years,  who  do  not  often  find  themselves 
communing  with  the  past  and  hstening  to  the  voices  that  come  out 
of  it. 

The  hours  thus  employed  may  be  sad  or  joyous,  but  whatever 
their  character,  if  they  are  properly  viewed  and  improved  they  will 
be  a  source  from  which  we  may  get  strength  and  power  for  present 
work  and  duty,  and  our  pathway  in  the  future  may  thereby  be 
made  more  distinct,  bright,  and  hopeful,  for 

"  There  is  a  history  in  all  men's  lives, 
Picturing  the  nature  of  the  times  gone  by. 
The  which — observed — a  man  may  prophesy, 
With  a  nearer  aim,  the  chance  or  form  of  things 
That  are  yet  to  be." 

From  the  standpoint  which  we  occupy  to-day  I  will  speak  to 
you  of  the  past  history  of  our  church  and  society.  My  words  may 
be  dull,  and  my  thoughts  feeble,  but  as  I  have  examined  the  subject, 
1  have  felt  that  it  was  full  of  eloquence.  There  are  memories,  and 
associations,  and  events  Knked  with  it,  that,  if  properly  presented, 
would  be  inspiration  to  our  hearts. 

It  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  since  the  rays  of  civiliza- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  99 

tion  first  dawned  over  these  hills,  and  began  to  lighten  up  these  val- 
leys. At  first  this  new  order  of  things  unfolded  itself  but  slowly, 
but  gradually  the  better  days  were  ushered  in. 

In  1731  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Colony  of  Connecti- 
cut, in  council  assembled  at  Hartford,  ordered  that  the  western 
county  lands  lying  on  the  east  side  of  the  Housatonic  River  be  laid 
out  into  townships. 

In  that  survey  the  boundaries  of  Cornwall  were  established. 
The  town  is  said  to  be  five  miles  and  seventy-two  rods  wide  on  the 
south  end,  four  and  one-half  miles  wide  on  the  north  end,  nine 
miles  in  length,  and  to  contain  23,654  acres  of  land. 

Tradition  says  that  when  this  original  survey  was  nearly  com- 
pleted the  surveyor  came  to  the  top  of  the  hill  a  short  distance 
north  of  where  the  residence  of  Hon.  T.  S.  Gold  now  stands.  As 
he  stood  looking  at  what  presented  itself  from  that  point,  he  said, 
"This  is  the  cream  of  the  town;"  and  from  that  day  that  part  of 
the  town  has  borne  the  name  of  "  Cream  Hill." 

The  town  was  divided  into  fifty-three  rights,  one  of  which  was 
to  be  given  to  the  first  orthodox  gospel  minister  that  should  be 
settled  in  the  town;  one  was  to  be  for  the  use  of  the  ministry;  and 
one  for  the  benefit  of  schools.  The  fifty  remaining  rights  were 
sold  at  auction  at  the  court-house  in  Fairfield  on  the  first  Tuesday 
in  February,  1738,  at  1  o'clock  p.  m.  They  were  not  to  be  sold  for 
less  than  fifty  pounds  for  each  right.  Each  purchaser  was  obli- 
gated to  build,  or  have  built,  upon  the  land  he  might  purchase, 
within  three  years,  a  house  not  less  than  eighteen  feet  square,  with 
not  less  than  seven-foot  posts,  and  to  fence  in  not  less  than  six 
acres  of  the  same.  A  failure  on  these  points  forfeited  his  title  to 
the  property. 

The  sale  was  made,  and  averaged  £110  for  each  right,  which 
was  at  the  rate  of  821  cents  an  acre.  In  1740  there  was  quite  a 
settlement  in  the  town,  and  in  May  of  that  year  a  town  organiza- 
tion was  formed,  and  measures  adopted  to  settle  a  minister  and 
build  a  meeting-house.  The  first  minister  was  Rev.  Solomon 
Palmer,  who  was  ordained  and  settled  in  August,  1741.  He  lived 
at  what  is  now  known  as  the  Oliver  Burnham  place. 

He  continued  here  until  March,  1754,  when  from  the  pulpit,  on 
the  Sabbath,  he  announced  himself  an  Episcopalian  in  sentiment, 
and  asked  for  a  dismission,  which  was  granted.  The  next  pastor 
was  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold. 

He  came  from  Stratford,  was  educated   at  Yale  College,  and 


100  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

settled  here  in  1756.  He  lived  at  the  place  now  owned  and  occu- 
pied by  Benjamin  P.  Johnson.  At  his  installation  Dr.  David 
Bellamy  of  Bethlehem  preached  the  sermon  from  Jeremiah  iii,  15. 
Rev.  John  Graham  of  Southbury  gave  the  charge  to  the  pastor, 
and  Rev.  Daniel  Brinsmade  of  Washington,  the  right-hand  of 
fellowship. 

He  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  good  abiHty  and  an  acceptable 
preacher,  and  to  have  exerted  quite  an  influence  in  the  town,  not 
only  in  its  religious  but  also  in  its  civil  affairs. 

He  once  or  twice  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State.  He  continued  to  preach  until  about  1786,  when  he 
retired  from  active  ministerial  labor,  and  died  here  in  1790,  at 
fifty-nine  years  of  age. 

He  had  five  sons,  all  of  whom  became  prominent  and  influential 
men.  Two  of  them  only  remained  in  this  town,  one,  Hezekiah, 
settled  on  Cream  Hill,  the  other,  Benjamin,  in  South  Cornwall,  and 
we  are  aU  witnesses  of,  and  can  testify  to,  the  good  his  descendants 
have  done  and  are  doing  in  this  town. 

During  the  first  forty  years  of  our  town  history,  there  was  but 
one  church  and  society  in  the  town  of  the  Congregational  order. 
Their  meeting-house  stood  very  near  the  present  residence  of  Jas. 
D.  Ford.  To  that  point,  from  all  parts  of  the  town,  for  about  forty 
years,  the  tribes  went  up  to  worship  God. 

But  it  was  not  thus  to  continue.  Then,  as  now,  there  were 
"many  men  of  many  minds."  Saybrook  platforms,  church  cove- 
nants. Congregational  theories  and  customs,  ecclesiastical  connec- 
tions, and  divers  other  matters,  were  exciting  topics  of  discussion. 
Discussion  led  to  action;  action  brought  forth  a  division;  and  in 
1780  the  Second  Ecclesiastical  church  and  society  of  Cornwall 
came  into  being. 

Soon  after  the  separation  the  First  Society  moved  their  meeting- 
house to  near  where  it  now  stands. 

This  society  hired  the  Rev.  John  Cornwafl,  not  to  supply  their 
pulpit,  for  they  hadn't  any,  but  to  officiate  as  their  pastor  and 
teacher  in  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  They  had 
no  stated  place  of  worship,  and  the  meetings  were  held  around  at 
the  houses  of  the  members,  being  more  often  than  elsewhere  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Cornwall,  which  was  where  Mr.  Carrington  Todd 
now  resides. 

Mr.  Cornwall  came  from  Branford,  in  this  State,  as  did  quite  a 
number  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  town.     He  was  a  poor  boy,  and 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  101 

was  bred  to  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker.  In  his  family  Bible  there 
was  this  record  in  his  handwriting:  "Lived  without  God  in  the 
world  until  twenty  years  old."  This  would  indicate  that  his  con- 
version occurred  at  this  date. 

After  Mr.  Cornwall  became  a  Christian  he  seems  to  have  been 
possessed  with  the  feeling  of  the  great  apostle  when  he  exclaimed, 
"  Wo  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel"  He  was  a  young  man  of 
much  native  ability,  and  he  apj)lied  himself  as  diligently  as  his 
circumstances  and  means  would  permit  to  a  preparation  for  the 
gospel  ministry.  While  engaged  in  his  daily  labors  as  a  shoe- 
maker he  would  have  his  book  lying  open  before  him,  and  thus  his 
studies  and  his  work  went  on  together,  and  by  a  diligent  use  of  his 
time  he  acquired  means  for,  and  obtained  his  education.  In  due 
time  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  this  church,  in  the  early  morn- 
ing of  its  existence,  while  recognizing  Christ  as  the  Great  Shepherd, 
chose  Mr.  Cornwall  as  the  under  shepherd  of  the  flock.  It  is  re- 
ported of  him  that  he  was  an  earnest  preacher,  a  warm-hearted 
Christian,  a  good  man.  In  1787,  five  years  after  its  organization, 
the  society  having  obtained  the  needful  authority  from  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  made  arrangements  for,  and  proceeded  to  build  a 
meeting-house.  It  stood  where  the  school-house  near  Mr.  John  R. 
Harrison's  now  stands,  and  there,  for  many  years,  our  fathers 
gathered  to  worship  the  Most  High  God. 

It  was  for  a  number  of  years  but  little  more  than  the  shell  of  a 
building,  with  some  kind  of  a  rough  floor,  and  rough,  uncomfort- 
able seats.  There  was  no  lath  or  plaster,  and  it  was  often  the 
case  that  while  the  worship  was  going  on  below  the  birds  held  high 
carnival  and  built  their  nests  among  the  rafters  overhead.  The 
only  railing  aroimd  the  gallery  was  some  strips  of  timber  standing 
upright,  nailed  on  to  the  front,  across  the  tops  of  which  were  nailed 
strips  of  boards.  On  one  occasion,  while  the  services  were  going 
on,  a  boy  by  the  name  of  Job  Simmons  leaned  his  head  down 
against  this  railing  and  soon  feel  asleep.  When  he  had  got  fairly 
under  way  in  a  good  sound  nap,  his  head  slipped  from  its  support 
and  pitching  forward,  he  landed  on  the  floor  below.  It  was  not  as 
fatal  as  in  the  case  of  the  young  man  who  fell  out  of  the  window 
on  one  occasion  when  Paul  was  preaching.  Job  soon  gathered 
himself  up,  order  was  restored,  and  the  services  went  on  as  usual. 

Mr.  Cornwall  remained  here  until  about  1792,  when  he  removed 
to  and  was  settled  as  pastor  over  a  church  in  Stamford,  New  York, 
where  he  remained  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1812.    Noah 


102  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Eogers  the  4th  married  a  daughter  of  his,  and  thus  hi^  (Mr. 
Cornwall's)  blood  runs  in  the  veins  of  quite  a  number  who  are 
living  in  this  society. 

In  those  early  days  ecclesiastical  matters  were  managed  to  a  large 
extent  by  the  town  when  in  town  meeting  assembled.  Thus  in 
one  instance  we  find  the  town  voting,  that  we  will  unite  to  call  and 
settle  a  serious,  pious,  godly,  orthodox,  and  learned  minister  in  the 
town,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  gospel.  In  another  instance 
they  voted  a  tax  of  four  pence  on  the  pound  upon  all  polls  and 
ratable  estate  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Cornwall,  to  be 
collected  forthwith,  to  be  paid  to  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold,  Rev.  John 
Cornwall,  and  to  the  missionary  of  the  Church  of  England  who 
hath  preached  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  the  past  year  who 
are  professors  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  each  individual 
person  in  the  town  may  pay  his  proportionate  part  of  said  tax  to 
the  minister  whose  worship  he  attends — he  or  she  giving  the  col- 
lector directions  to  which  minister  or  candidate  who  officiates  in 
the  town,  his  or  her  proportion  of  said  tax  shall  be  paid.  Noah 
Rogers  3d,  was  collector  at  this  time. 

About  the  year  1795  the  Rev.  Israel  Holley  was  employed  by 
the  society,  and  he  preached  here  for  five  or  six  years.  He  was  an 
old  man  of  nearly  seventy  years  when  he  came  here.  Whence 
he  came  or  whither  he  went  I  don't  know.  That  he  was  a  priest 
of  the  Most  High  God  we  have  good  reason  to  believe,  for  under 
his  ministry  occurred,  so  far  as  is  now  known,  the  first  one  in  that 
series  of  revivals  with  which  this  church  has  been  so  signally 
favored.  The  questions  here  naturally  arise.  Who  were  the  co- 
laborers  with  Mr.  Holley  in  that  revival  ?  Who  were  the  men  and 
who  the  women  that  in  those  early  days  held  up  the  pastor's  hands 
while  the  work  of  the  Lord  went  on  ?  Who  luere  they  who  offered 
the  effectual,  fervent  prayer  that  called  down  the  blessing  ?  Who 
were  they  that  thus  helped  to  lay  the  foundations  of  this  church, 
sure  and  steadfast,  on  the  unfailing  promises  of  a  covenant-keeping 
God  ?  There  are  no  original  records  that  give  their  names  that  can 
now  be  found.  Our  church  manual  gives  the  names  of  eleven 
males  and  two  females  who  were  members  of  the  church  at  the 
time  of  its  organization  in  1780.  They  were  James  Douglass,  who 
lived  on  Cream  Hill,  Phineas  "Waller  and  wife,  who  lived  where 
Judson  Adams  now  lives  or  near  there,  Noah  Bull,  Andrew  Young, 
David  and  Hezekiah  Clark,  of  Clark  Hill,  Elijah  Steele,  Beriah 
Hotchkin  and  wife,  who  resided  where  Mr.  Jacob  Scovill  now 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  103 

lives,  Noali  Rogers  the  3d,  Ethan  Allen,  and  Jesse  Hyatt,  who 
lived  in  the  house  next  south  of  that  of  Noah  Rogers. 

In  1784  five  more  were  added  to  the  church,  viz.,  Mrs.  Silas 
Dibble,  Mrs.  James  Travis,  Mrs.  Samuel  Scovill,  Mrs.  Uriel  Lee, 
Joseph  Wadsworth,  and  Mrs.  Henry  Fillmore,  who  was  grand- 
mother of  ex-President  Millard  Fillmore. 

In  1789  and  1790  there  were  further  additions  of  Mrs.  Asa 
Emmons,  Joseph  Hotchkiss  and  wife,  Mrs.  Silas  Clark,  Mrs. 
Solomon  Emmons,  and  Abigail  Rogers  (afterwards  Mrs.  Asahel 
Bradley  of  Stockbridge,  Mass.).  Thirty  names,  fourteen  males  and 
sixteen  females,  thus  appear  as  having  been  members  of  the  church 
from  its  organization  in  1780  up  to  the  time  of  the  first  general 
revival  in  1795. 

If  there  were  any  others,  we  know  of  no  source  from  which 
their  names  can  now  be  recovered.  The  "LamFs  Book  of  Life  " 
will  alone  reveal  them.  How  many  of  the  thirty  whose  names  we 
have,  were  left  to  help  on  that  work  of  ninety-five  we  do  not  know, 
as  removals  and  deaths  had  considerably  lessened  their  number. 
But  this  much  is  evident,  there  were  enough,  so  that  meeting  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  they  could  claim  and  secure  the  fulfillment  of 
Christ's  most  precious  jjromises.  Those  few  disciples,  whether  more 
or  less,  were  surely  with  one  accord  in  one  place,  and  that  the 
place  of  prayer.  They  felt  the  need  of  a  divine  blessing — for  that 
they  prayed — and  it  came.  Sinners  were  converted,  additions 
were  made  to  the  church,  and  among  the  number  then  brought 
into  this  fold  of  Christ  were  Nathan  Hart,  James  Wadsworth, 
Ichabod  Howe,  Thomas  Hyatt,  Thaddeus  Cole,  and  others.  Men 
who,  clothing  themselves  in  the  armor  of  God,  fought  valiantly 
the  good  fight  of  faith,  and  on  many  a  well-contested  field,  with 
■the  Great  Adversary,  were  enabled,  by  the  grace  of  God  assisting 
them,  to  bear  the  banners  of  this  church  on  to  victory.  Of  all  the 
number  who  composed  the  church  at  the  beginning  of  this  century 
none  remain;  all  have  passed  the  dark  river,  and,  as  we  trust,  they 
to-day  worship  in  a  "building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  Rev.  Mr.  Holley  remained  here 
until  about  the  year  1801.  About  twenty  persons  united  with  the 
church  during  his  ministry. 

The  deacons  of  the  church  from  1780 — when  it  was  organized — to 
1800,  were  Beriah  Hotchkin  and  Phineas  Waller.  Mr.  Hotchkin 
lived  near  where  Mr.  Jacob  Scovill  now  resides.  He  was  a  man 
of  much  intellectual  abihty.     About  the  year  1798  he  removed  to 


104  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Black  River  country,  and  was  afterwards  licensed  to  preach.  He 
had  a  son  who  was  also  in  the  ministry.  Mr.  Waller  filled  the 
office  of  deacon  with  credit  to  himself  and  to  the  edification  of 
the  church. 

He  also  removed  into  the  western  country  about  the  year  1800. 
From  the  time  Mr.  Holley  left  in  1801  until  1805,  we  do  not  know 
who  supplied  the  pulpit.  We  expect  the  people  then,  as  now,  were 
somewhat  afflicted  with  deacons'  meetings. 

Hezekiah  Clark  and  Jesse  Hyatt  were  deacons  at  this  time, 
having  been  chosen  in  1800.  Mr.  Clark  was  quite  gifted  in  ideas 
which  he  was  able  to  communicate  intelligently  to  others.  Mx-. 
Hyatt  was  a  strong,  substantial  man,  upon  whom  the  church  could 
lean  with  trust  and  confidence.  In  addition  to  the  deacons,  Eliakim 
Mallory  and  Noah  Rogers  the  3d  were  relied  upon  to  a  consider- 
able extent  to  sustain  the  meetings,  although  there  were  some  of 
the  younger  members  who  were  getting  on  the  harness  and  aided 
in  rehgious  work  and  labor  to  some  extent.  In  1805  the  church 
and  society  called  the  Rev.  Josiah  Hawes,  of  Warren,  Conn.,  who 
was  then  a  young  man,  to  be  their  pastor.  He  accepted  the  in  vita, 
tion,  and  was  installed  March  14,  1805,  on  a  salary  of  three  hundred 
dollars.  Rev.  Mr.  Starr  of  Warren  preached  the  ordination  sermon ; 
Rev.  Mr.  Cornwall  gave  the  charge  to  the  pastor-elect,  and  Rev. 
Timothy  Stone  of  the  First  Society  gave  the  right-hand  of  fellowship. 

Mr.  Hawes  occupied  a  house  now  owned  by  Theodore  Ives, 
which  stands  a  few  rods  north  of  the  Burnham  house. 

The  first  written  records  of  our  church  history  that  now  exist 
commence  immediately  after  Mr.  Hawes  came  here.  We  conclude 
he  stirred  the  people  up  to  good  works  in  that  line,  for  just  then 
we  find,  that  by  a  vote  of  the  church,  a  committee  was  appointed, 
consisting  of  Noah  Rogers,  Sr.,  Nathan  Hart,  David  Clark,  and 
Eliakim  Mallory,  who,  in  connection  with  the  pastor,  were  to 
examine  the  church  records  and  select  such  as  they  thought  proper, 
and  have  them  recorded  in  a  book  to  be  kept  for  that  purpose. 
(The  records  up  to  this  time  seem  to  have  been  written  on  loose 
papers  and  kept  in  a  file.)  And  what  was  the  result  of  this  ex- 
amination ?  Simply  this  :  the  committee  reported  that  "  they  had 
attended  to  the  duties  of  their  appointment,  and  that  thoy  did  not 
deem  it  expedient  to  introduce  into  the  book  any  transactions  of  a 
date  previous  to  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Hawes." 

They  had  the  records  on  file,  a  few  hours'  writing  would  have 
put  every  important  transaction  that  had  occurred  in  the  history 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTOBY.  105 

of  the  cliurch  up  to  that  date  into  a  permanent  form,  but  they  did 
not  do  it,  and  after  a  few  years  they  were  lost  past  recovery.  We 
expect  that  committee  had  not  searched  through  the  musty  records 
of  a  past  age  to  ascertain  what  those  who  had  gone  before  them 
had  said  or  done,  to  the  extent  that  some  of  us  who  are  here  to-day 
have  done;  if  they  had,  they  would  never  have  passed  a  vote  hke 
that. 

Mr.  Hawes,  during  his  ministry,  kept  a  fair  record  of  the  trans- 
actions of  the  church,  but  from  the  time  he  left,  except  at  brief 
intervals,  they  are  very  imperfect,  and  not  at  all  what  they  should 
have  been.  In  matters  of  this  kind  we  are  too  apt  to  think  only  of 
the  present,  and  the  future  is  left  to  take  care  of  itself. 

Mr.  Hawes  recorded  the  names  of  those  who  were  members  of 
the  church  at  the  time  of  his  settlement  in  1805.  They  are  as 
follows : 

Noah  Rogers,  Sen.  (3),  Mrs.  Samuel  Scovill,  Jr., 

Eliakim  Mallory  and  wife,  Wife  of  Capt.  Williams, 

Hezekiah  Clark,  Clarissa  Irene  Rogers, 

David  Clark,  Wife  of  Joseph  Ford, 

Jesse  Hyatt  and  wife,  Wife  of  Pliilo  Hawes, 

Nathan  Hart  and  wife,  Mrs.  Silas  Clark, 

Thaddeus  Cowles  and  wife,  Abigail  Hart,  widow  of  John  Hart, 

Titus  Hart,  Wife  of  Asa  Emmons, 

Ichabod  Howe,  Ira  Gleason, 

Silas  Meacham,  Wife  of  Joseph  Hotchkin. 

Mrs.  Samuel  Scovill,  Sen., 

The  whole  number,  so  far  as  we  can  discover,  who  had  belonged 
to  the  church  from  its  organization  to  this  date  (1805)  was  forty- 
eight  persons. 

Twenty  five  (twelve  males  and  thirteen  females)  only  remained 
when  Mr.  Hawes  was  settled.  In  the  winter  of  1806-7,  there  was 
another  revival  of  religion,  which  was  very  general  throughout 
the  society,  and  the  result  of  it  was  an  addition  of  fifty-two  mem- 
bers to  the  church.  Among  them  were  James  Wadsworth  and 
wife  (Mr.  Wadsworth  was  a  subject  of  the  revival  in  1795,  but 
did  not  unite  with  the  church  until  this  time),  Joel  Millard  and 
wife,  Elias  Hart  and  wife,  Capt.  Hezekiah  Gold  and  wife,  Eliakim 
Mallory,  Jr.,  and  wife,  James  D.  Ford,  James  Bunce,  and  others. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  this  church,  comparatively  weak  in 
numbers  and  in  financial  strength,  but  strong  in  faith,  had  struggled 
with  difficulties,  beset  with  dangers  without  and  fears  within,  until 
at  length  a  blessing  came  which  filled  their  hearts  with  a  new  joy 
and  caused  them  to  sing  aloud  of  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God. 
14 


106  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

•From  twenty-five  they  were  at  once  increased  to  seventy-five  in 
number,  and  a  new  life  and  power  was  infused  into  the  whole 
body. 

Rev.  Mr.  Hawes  was  dismissed  July  6,  1813,  having  been  here 
eight  years  and  four  months. 

All  who  remember  Mr.  Hawes  speak  of  him  as  a  devotedly  pious 
and  an  earnest  Christian  man. 

About  this  time — we  think  in  1812 — there  was  some  special 
degree  of  rehgious  interest  in  the  parish,  and  eight  persons  joined 
the  church.  Among  the  names  are  Luther  Emmons,  Mrs.  Oliver 
Burnham,  Miss  Rhoda  Burnham,  Mrs.  Jasper  Pratt,  Miss  Hannah 
Pratt,  and  others. 

After  Mr.  Hawes  left,  a  son  of  Rev.  Mr.  Robbins,  of  Norfolk, 
supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  number  of  months.  He  is  remembered 
as  a  young  man  of  talent,  eloquent,  and  a  popular  preacher. 

Afterwards  came  the  Rev.  Grove  L.  Brownell,  fresh  from  his 
theologic  studies,  who  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  year  more  or  less. 
That  was  in  1817-18;  and  under  his  ministry  there  was  another 
pheasant  and  interesting  revival  of  religion,  and  twenty -two  were 
added  to  the  church.  Among  these  we  find  the  names  of  Joseph 
Scoville,  John  P.  Wadsworth,  John  and  Eber  Cotter,  Amanda 
Johnson,  and  others.  Of  those  who  then  joined  the  church,  we 
think  John  P.  Wadsworth  and  Amanda  Johnson  (now  Mrs.  Milo 
Dickinson)  are  the  only  survivors. 

In  1819  the  church  and  society  gave  a  call  to  the  Rev.  Walter 
Smith,  of  Kent,  Conn.,  which  he  accepted,  and  he  was  ordained 
and  installed  on  the  second  day  of  June,  of  that  year,  on  a  salary 
of  five  hundred  dollars.  Rev.  Mr.  Blair,  of  Kent,  preached  the 
sermon,  from  Daniel  xii,  3:  "  And  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as 
the  brightness  of  the  firmament;  and  they  that  turn  many  to 
righteousness  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 

Rev.  Cyrus  Yale,  of  New  Hartford,  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship; Rev.  Ralph  Emerson,  of  Norfolk,  the  charge  to  the  people; 
and  the  Rev.  D.  S.  Perry,  of  Sharon,  the  charge  to  the  pastor. 
Mr.  Smith's  sermon  on  the  Sabbath  morning  next  after  his  instal- 
lation was  from  Acts  x,  29:  "Therefore  came  I  unto  you  without 
gainsaying,  as  soon  as  I  was  sent  for:  I  ask  therefore  for  what 
intent  ye  have  sent  for  me  ? "  In  the  afternoon  the  text  was 
Acts  X,  33:  "Immediately  therefore  I  sent  to  thee;  and  thou  hast 
well  done  that  thou  art  come.     Now  therefore  we  are  all  here 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  107 

present  before  God  to  hear  all  things  that  are  commanded  thee  of 
God." 

Eev.  Mr.  Smith  was  a  sound  and  substantial  preacher  of  the 
gospel.  The  state  of  his  health  was  such  that  he  could  not  endure 
much  excitement,  or  with  safety  to  himself  sustain  and  carry  on 
a  continued  series  of  meetings.  But  notwithstanding  this,  the 
church  and  society  were  during  his  ministry  repeatedly  blessed 
with  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  one  instance,  and  we  think  in  two,  there  were  quite  extensive 
revivals  when  Mr.  Smith,  on  account  of  ill  health,  was  absent  nearly 
if  not  quite  the  whole  time  of  their  continuance.  In  one  of  these, 
those  efficient  laborers,  John  C.  Hart  and  Augustus  T.  Norton, 
rendered  valuable  aid. 

In  1821  five  persons  joined  the  church,  among  whom  were 
Benjamin  Sedgwick,  Mrs.  William  Pendleton,  and  others.  Benja- 
min Sedgwick — what  a  power  he  was  in  this  church  !  Large  and 
well  developed  in  his  physical  proportions,  these  seemed  to  repre- 
sent the  largeness  of  his  faith  and  of  his  trust  in  God.  He  was 
seldom  absent  from  his  seat  in  church  on  the  Sabbath  Day.  His 
prayers  always  seemed  to  come  from  a  warm  and  sympathizing 
heart,  and  in  his  intense  earnestness  he  often  appeared  to  be  taking 
this  whole  congregation  in  the  strong  arms  of  his  devotion,  and 
thus  he  bore  them  up  before  the  mercy  seat,  while  he  pleaded  for 
heaven's  richest  blessings  to  rest  upon  them. 

In  1822-3  there  were  further  tokens  of  God's  favor  in  the  midst 
of  this  people,  and  sixteen  were  added  to  the  church.  Among 
them  were  Darius  Miner,  WilHam  Clark,  Erastus  Gaylord,  Mrs. 
William  Clark,  Mrs.  Samuel  W.  Gold,  Mrs.  Micajah  Barnum,  and 
others. 

In  1824  there  was  an  addition  of  twenty,  and  in  this  list  we  find 
John  C.  Hart,  Chalker  Pratt  and  wife,  Isaac  S.  Wadsworth,  Mrs. 
Ithamer  Baldwin,  Catharine  Clark  (now  Mrs.  Noah  Rogers),  etc. 

In  1826-7  there  was  held  in  most  of  the  churches  in  this  section 
a  series  of  what  were  called  delegate  meetings.  At  an  appointed 
place  and  time,  two  or  three  delegates  from  each  of  the  surround- 
ing churches  came  together,  with  the  society  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  meeting  was  held,  and  special  efforts  were  made  for  the 
extension  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  Some  of  these  were  meet- 
ings of  great  power,  and  were  attended  with  great  success.  One 
of  these  meetings  was  held  here  with  beneficial  results.     At  this 


108  HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL. 

meeting  Rev.  Messrs.  Yale  of  New  Hartford,  and  Halleck  of 
Canton,  Conn,,  were  present. 

I  remember  a  meeting  which  they  attended  in  this  house  on  a 
Sabbath  evening.  A  large  congregation  was  present,  and  the 
influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  pervaded  the  place.  After  the  pre- 
liminary exercises  were  gone  through  with,  Rev.  Mr.  Yale  arose 
and  announced  his  text,  viz.,  "  0  that  my  head  were  waters,  and 
mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night 
for  the  slain  of  the  daughters  of  my  people." 

The  value  of  an  immortal  soul,  the  agencies  that  were  at  work  to 
effect  its  ruin,  and  the  anxiety  of  Christian  men  and  women  in 
regard  to  it,  and  the  sacrifices  they  were  willing  to  make  as  co- 
workers with  Christ  to  save  it,  were  the  themes  of  the  discourse, 
which  was  given  with  all  that  thrilling  earnestness  which  might  be 
expected  from  a  master  ivorkman  who  felt  the  importance  of  the 
subject  he  was  handling.  Under  the  inspiration  of  that  hour  souls 
were  drawn  up  towards  a  higher  and  purer  life. 

In  1830-31  protracted  or  four  days'  meetings  were  in  vogue. 
They  were  held  in  many  of  the  churches  through  all  this  region, 
and  in  many  cases  great  spiritual  blessings  came  with  and  followed 
them.  The  one  held  here  was  attended  with  a  good  degree  of 
success.  During  its  continuance,  inquiry  meetings  were  held 
between  the  forenoon  and  afternoon  services  in  a  house  where  Mr. 
Harvey  Baldwin  now  resides.  That  house  and  its  surroundings 
were  very  different  from  what  we  now  see  at  the  same  place,  the 
difference  being  very  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  present.  As  the 
result  of  these  meetings,  and  of  the  revival  in  connection  with 
them,  there  were  twenty-nine  added  to  the  church.  Among  them 
were  Henry  F.  Wadsworth,  H.  Milton  Hart,  A.  B.  Pratt,  Harvey 
Wheadon,  Esther  and  Sylvia  Ann  Hart,  Harriet  Clark,  Harriet 
Miner,  Julia  and  Caroline  Hitchcock,  and  others. 

From  1832  to  1837  we  find  the  following  additions  to  the  church, 
viz. :  Noah  Baldwin,  Eliza  Rogers,  Mrs.  Noah  Rogers,  4th,  Mrs. 
T.  L.  Hart,  Mrs.  Fowler  Bradford,  Ambrose  S.  Rogers,  Mrs. 
Anson  Rogers,  Olive  and  Emily  Sedgwick,  Laura  Wheadon,  Mrs. 
H.  M.  Hart,  etc. 

In  1838  the  state  of  Rev.  Mr.  Smith's  health  was  such  that  he 
was  led  to  ask  for  a  dismission,  which  was  granted  April  3d  of 
that  year.  We  doubt  if  he  would  have  remained  here  as  long  as 
he  did,  but  for  the  fact  that  his  wife  was  one  of  the  most  efficient 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  109 

of  women,  being  very  much  beloved  by  all  the  people,  and  fully 
equal  to  all  the  duties  of  a  minister's  wife. 

We  I'emember  her  especially  as  an  efficient  worker  in  the  Sun- 
day-school. She  had  been  a  resident  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  was  there  interested  in  Sunday-school  work. 

Coming  as  the  bride  of  the  newly-chosen  pastor,  with  gifted  mind 
and  ready  heart  and  hands,  she  here  took  up  the  work  she  there 
laid  down.  She  found  ready  co-workers,  but  she  seems  to  have 
been  the  moving  spirit  in  the  organization  of  a  Sunday-school  in 
1820,  with  Deacon  Nathan  Hart  for  superintendent. 

In  our  imagination  and  recollection  many  of  us  to-day  see  her 
as  she  was  wont,  on  Sabbath  noon,  to  take  her  seat  in  yonder  cor- 
ner pew,  where  she  was  surrounded  by  a  large  company  of  the 
elderly  ladies  of  this  church,  to  whom  she  earnestly  and  intelli- 
gently expounded  the  Scriptures.  All  loved  and  respected  her, 
and  she  was  worthy  of  it. 

During  Mr,  Smith's  ministry,  in  1824  and  1825,  a  considerable 
majority  of  the  society  had  come  to  think  that  the  meeting-house 
was  not  situated  where  it  accommodated  the  greater  number,  and 
that,  as  the  house  was  old  and  uncomfortable,  a  new  one  should  be 
built,  and  its  location  changed.  The  subject  was  discussed — 
talked  about.  Talk  and  discussion  resulted  in  action.  Locations 
were  canvassed,  roads  were  measured,  and  there  was  much  excite- 
ment upon  the  subject.  At  length  the  Judge  of  the  County  Court 
was  called  upon,  as  the  law  provided,  to  settle  the  contest,  and  the 
stake  was  placed  where  this  house  was  built  and  now  stands. 

The  first  stick  of  timber  for  the  new  church,  a  white-oak,  fifty 
feet  long,  was  drawn  on  to  the  ground  by  Ambrose  S.  Rogers,  then 
ten  years  old,  with  four  heavy  yoke  of  oxen,  that  belonged  to  his 
father.  T.  L.  Hart  says  he  scored  a  stick  of  that  kind  one  hot 
June  day  that  went  into  the  building,  and  he  thinks  the  harder 
part  of  the  job  was  his.     All  the  people  had  a  mind  for  the  work! 

The  old  house,  coarse,  uncouth,  and  uncomfortable,  but  hallowed 
by  many  years  of  sacred  worship — by  many  a  sacred  song — by 
many  a  sermon,  and  many  a  prayer — by  many  a  holy  sacred  mem- 
ory; yes,  hallowed  by  many  a  communication  from  God  the 
Father — God  the  Son — and  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  taken  down, 
and  this  new  house  was  built;  and  many  a  beam  from  that  helped 
to  erect  and  sustain  this,  the  new  temple,  which  was  dedicated  to 
the|worship  of  Almighty  God  in  1826. 

About  the  beginning  of  this  century,  there  was  a  boy  living  in 


110  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

New  Marlborough,  Mass.,  by  the  name  of  S.  J.  Tracy.  He  was  a 
wild  and  somewhat  reckless  youth,  caring  very  little  for  religion, 
or  its  duties  and  obligations.  He  went  out  one  Sabbath  day  with 
a  company  of  young  persons  for  a  pleasure  sail  on  a  pond  near 
where  he  lived.  While  they  were  thus  enjoying  themselves  a 
sudden  and  severe  gust  of  wind  struck  them,  the  boat  was  capsized, 
and  those  in  it  were  thrown  into  the  water.  Two  or  three  were 
drowned,  and  we  think  two  were  saved.  Young  Tracy  was  one 
of  the  rescued  ones.  He  was  deeply  affected  by  the  event.  He 
was  led  to  feel  that  the  command.  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to 
keep  it  holy,"  could  not,  with  impunity,  be  violated.  He  made 
haste  to  seek  pardon  of  an  offended  God,  whose  law  he  had  broken. 
He  became  a  Christian,  and  studied  for  and  became  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

In  the  orderings  of  Providence  it  so  happened  that,  soon  after 
Rev.  Mr.  Smith  left,  this  same  Mr.  Tracy  was  invited  here  to 
preach.  We  expect  that,  from  the  day  the  foundations  of  this 
house  were  laid  until  the  present,  there  has  never  been  preached, 
from  this  pulpit,  in  one  day,  two  sermons  which  so  aroused  and 
stirred  up  the  people  as  did  those  preached  by  Mr.  Tracy  on  that 
Sabbath.  They  were  eloquent,  searching,  and  sharp  as  a  two-edged 
sword. 

The  society  was  stirred  from  its  center  to  its  circumference. 
After  a  brief  time  Mr.  Tracy  was  hired  to  supply  the  pulpit. 
Meetings  were  multiplied,  religious  interest  increased.  On  an 
appointed  day  members  of  the  church,  in  committees  of  two,  visited 
all  the  families  in  the  several  school  districts.  At  evening  all 
gathered  in  this  house,  the  presence  of  the  Infinite  seemed  to  fill 
the  place,  and  it  became  as  the  gate  of  heaven  to  many  souls. 
For  thirty  weeks  the  work  went  on  with  power,  forty -nine  were 
added  to  the  church,  fifteen  of  them  being  heads  of  families,  and 
twenty-six  children  were  baptized.  Among  those  who  then  joined 
the  church  were  Col.  Anson  Rogers,  Jehial  Nettleton,  William  and 
Tthamer  Baldwin,  J.  P.  Brewster,  N.  R.  Hart,  H.  L.  Rogers,  D.  M. 
Rogers,  F.  Bradford,  N.  Hart,  Jr.,  D.  Miner,  Jr.,  and  others. 

Much  fallow  ground  in  this  moral  vineyard  was  then  broken  up 
which  has  continued  to  bear  fruit  to  this  day. 

In  1840,  Rev.  Joshua  L.  Maynard  was  introduced  here  by  Rev. 
A.  B.  Pratt,  they  having  been  students  together  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  in  New  York.     Mr.  Maynard  proved  to  be  an  acceptable 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  Ill 

preacher,  a  call  was  given  liim,  and  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of 
this  people  January  14,  1841,  on  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars. 

He  was  a  man  of  ardent  piety,  consistent  in  his  daily  walk  and 
conversation,  and  his  sermons  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ.  In  Banyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  "  we  have  this 
description  of  a  faithful  minister: 

"  In  the  house  of  Interpreter,  Christian  saw  a  picture  of  a  very 
grave  person  hung  against  the  wall,  and  this  was  the  fashion  of  it: 

"It  had  eyes  lifted  up  to  heaven,  the  best  of  books  was  in  his 
hand,  the  law  of  truth  was  written  on  his  lips,  the  world  was 
behind  his  back;  he  stood  as  if  he  pleaded  with  men,  and  a  crown 
of  gold  did  hang  o'er  his  head." 

We  think  this  as  applicable  to  Mr.  Maynard  as  to  any  of  the 
ministers  who  have  been  settled  here.  He  plead  earnestly  with 
men  that  they  be  reconciled  to  God,  and  his  pleadings  were  not  in 
vain.  There  were  frequent  seasons  of  more  than  usual  religious 
interest,  and  in  1846  there  was  a  more  extensive  work  of  grace 
than  this  society  had  previously  enjoyed.  Its  first  development 
became  manifest  in  a  series  of  prayer  meetings  held  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Deacon  Wadsworth.  The  work  spread  rapidly.  Inquiry 
meetings  were  multiplied.  They  were  thronged.  The  pastor's 
hands  seemed  more  than  full  with  his  abundant  labors.  The 
deacons  asked  him  if  he  would  not  have  ministerial  help  from 
abroad.  He  said  "No!  If  the  church  members  will  do  the  praying, 
I  will  do  the  preaching,"  and  thus  they  worked  on. 

On  the  first  Sabbath  in  May,  sixty-four  persons  united  with  the 
church.  Five  had  united  at  the  previous  communion  in  March, 
five  more  came  in  during  the  summer,  making  seventy-four  in  all, 
thirty-six  males  and  thirty-eight  females,  who  joined  the  church  as 
the  result  of  that  deeply  interesting  winter's  work. 

Among  these  were  George  Wheaton,  Julius  Hart,  D.  L.  Rogers, 
John  W.  Beers,  Ralph  I.  Scovill,  Samuel  ScoviU,  2d,  etc.  In 
1851,  there  was  another  season  of  general  religious  interest,  and 
forty  united  with  us  on  profession  of  their  faith,  and  seven  by 
letter. 

The  whole  number  admitted  to  the  church  during  the  eleven 
years  of  Mr.  Maynard's  ministry  was  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
persons. 

In  the  spring  of  1852  he  had  a  call  to  East  Douglass,  Mass., 
which  he  accepted,  and  was  dismissed  from  here.     Mr.  Maynard 


112  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL, 

was  an  earnest,  devoted  pastor,  and  he  served  us  faithfully  and 
well. 

From  1852  to  1855  ministerial  candidates  came  in  quick  succes- 
sion. We  remember  Mr.  Russell,  with  his  eloquence;  Mr.  Bradley, 
and  his  sermon  to  "the  little  foxes  that  spoil  the  vines,"  many  of 
which  are  still  running  around  here ;  Mr.  Bartlett,  with  his  strong 
logical  presentation  of  divine  truth;  Mr.  Peck,  Mr.  Aikman,  etc. 

In  1855  a  call  was  given  to  the  Rev.  Wm.  B.  Clarke,  of  New 
Haven,  and  he  was  installed  May  4th  of  that  year  on  a  salary  of 
seven  hundred  dollars.  The  next  winter  there  was  another  revival, 
as  the  result  of  which  thirty  persons  united  with  the  church. 

During  that  winter  extra  meetings  were  held  at  Deacon  Wads- 
worth's,  Deacon  E.  D.  Pratt's,  Harvey  Baldwin's,  Wm.  Stoddard's, 
and  Deacon  Gibbs's. 

Most  of  these  were  solemn,  impressive  meetings.  Those  at  Dea- 
con Gibbs's  will  be  remembered  by  those  who  attended  them  as  being 
peculiarly  so. 

There  were  other  seasons  during  Mr.  Clarke's  ministry  when 
there  was  more  than  usual  religious  interest,  but  nothing  of  a  very 
marked  character. 

In  1859,  Mr.  Clarke  wished  to  go  to  Europe  and  the  Holy  Land. 
He  asked  for  a  dismission,  which  was  granted  May  18th  of  that 
year. 

Mr.  Clarke  was  a  man  of  refined  taste — of  great  purity  of  char- 
acter— kind  and  generous  in  his  disposition — an  earnest  Christian, 
and. of  much  ability  in  his  pulpit  ministrations. 

He  left  with  us  two  memorials  which  will  long  perpetuate  his 
name  here.  One  is  our  Church  Maniial,  of  which  he  is  the  author; 
the  Ooher,  the  elms  in  front  of  the  meeting-house,  which  he  planted 
with  his  own  hands. 

As  future  generations  shall  read  the  one,  or  recline  under  the 
shade  of  the  other,  they  will  revere  his  memory. 

Very  soon  after  Mr.  Clarke  left,  Rev.  Chas.  Wetherby  of  New 
Haven,  Vermont,  was  introduced  here,  and  preached  for  us  two  or 
three  Sabbaths.  On  the  2d  of  July,  1859,  the  church  and  society 
gave  him  a  call  to  settle. 

He  accepted  the  same,  and  was  installed  on  the  28th  of  Septem- 
ber of  that  year,  on  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars.  His  style 
of  preaching  was  attractive  and  interesting,  and  our  congregation 
increased  in  numbers  under  his  ministry. 

There  was  very  soon  an  increase  of  religious  interest,  and  in  the 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  113 

winter  of  1859-60  there  was  another  revival  throughout  tlie 
parish,  and  in  the  spring,  forty-one  were  added  to  the  church. 

In  the  winter  of  1861-2,  there  was  another  revival,  as  the 
result  of  which  about  twenty  united  with  the  church.  At  this 
time  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  congregation  were  naembers  of 
the  church.  One  of  the  subjects  of  this  revival  (John  B.  Sedg- 
wick), in  his  examination  for  admission  into  the  church,  said  he 
was  told,  about  the  time  that  he  came  over  to  North  Cornwall  to 
live,  that  they  would  have  him  into  the  church  before  he  had  been 
there  a  year,  and  his  reply  at  the  time  was,  "  I  guess  not."  But  the 
prediction  was  about  to  prove  true,  and  he  thanked  God  that  it 
was  so. 

In  1864  and  1865,  there  was  another  season  of  special  rehgious 
interest,  out  of  which  came  eighteen  persons  who  united  with  the 
church.  One  great  benefit  of  this  revival  was  the  renewed  spirit- 
ual life  that  it  infused  into  many  members  of  the  church. 

They  seemed  to  attain  to  a  higher  elevation  in  their  christian 
life  and  experience,  and  to  become  more  efficient  workers  in  their 
Master's  vineyard.  Mr.  Wetherby  received  a  call  from  the  church 
and  society  at  West  Winsted,  and  was  dismissed  from  here  June 
3,  1866.  Mr.  Wetherby  was  a  man  of  warm  affections  and  many 
generous  impulses.  Being  an  extensive  reader,  he  gathered  up 
many  things  new  and  old,  and  so  wove  them  into  the  web  of  his 
thought  as  to  instruct  and  edify  his  people.  His  great  strength 
lay  in  his  pulpit  labors,  which  were  often  eloquent  and  forcible. 
Being  sustained  by  an  energetic,  working  church,  his  labors  here 
were  crowned  with  abundant  success. 

In  1860,  the  premises  now  occupied  as  a  parsonage,  with  the 
lecture  room  in  connection  with  the  same,  were  bought  of  A.  S. 
Rogers,  and  appropriated  to  the  uses  for  which  they  were  purchased. 

On  the  7th  of  March,  1867,  Rev.  Jesse  Brush  of  Vernon,  Conn., 
came,  and  he  was  invited  to  become  our  pastor.  Accepting  the  call, 
he  removed  here  with  his  family,  and  was  installed  on  the  20th  of 
June  of  that  year,  on  a  salary  of  eleven  hundred  dollars  and  use 
of  parsonage.  An  effort  was  made  to  have  the  installation  servi- 
ces on  this  occasion  conducted  entirely  by  those  who  had  been  our 
former  pastors.  It  however  failed  in  part  in  that  respect.  Rev. 
Chas.  Wetherby  preached  the  sermon,  and  the  charge  to  the  pastor 
was  by  Rev.  Wm.  B.  Clarke,  then  at  Litchfield,  Conn.  Commenc- 
ing with  the  week  of  prayer,  in  January  of  1867,  there  was  an 
increase  of  rehgious  interest,  which  continued  along  through  the 
15 


114  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

winter.  There  were  some  conversions,  but  the  fallow  ground  did 
not  get  broken  up,  and  there  were  no  very  marked  results.  In 
March  the  condition  of  things  was  such  that  it  was  thought  best 
to  invite  the  Evangelist,  Rev.  J.  D.  Potter,  to  come  and  aid  in  the 
work.  He  came  in  April,  and  a  continued  series  of  meetings  were 
held.  The  attendance  was  large,  and  there  were  very  soon 
marked  indications  of  the  Divine  Presence.  Cases  of  conviction 
and  conversion  were  multiplied,  and  a  goodly  number  rejoiced  in 
a  new-born  hope  in  Christ.  The  closing  meeting  of  the  series 
was  very  impressive.  The  house  was  full  of  people,  and  when  at 
its  close  they  all  rose  and  sang  the  familiar  hymn, 

"  Shall  we  gather  at  the  rivei-, 
Where  bright  augel  feet  have  trod," 

it  seemed  as  though  none  could  willingly  leave  the  place  un- 
reconciled to  God.  As  the  result  of  that  revival  forty -two  persons 
united  with  the  church.  The  additions  during  Mr.  Brush's  ministry 
were  seven  by  letter  and  fifty  by  profession. 

In  June,  1873,  Mr.  Brush  received  a  call  from  the  church  and 
society  at  Berlin,  Conn.,  and  he  was  dismissed  from  here  on  the 
23d  of  that  month.  Mr.  Brush  wrote  a  good  sermon.  He  was 
pleasant  and  genial  in  society,  attentive  to  all  parish  work,  and  all 
honored  and  respected  him.  His  wife  was  gifted  with  many 
qualifications  for  her  position,  and  was  an  efficient  co-worker  in  all 
duties  pertaining  to  the  ministry  that  came  within  her  scope. 

In  December  following  Mr.  Brush's  departure,  Rev.  Chas.  N. 
Fitch,  of  Geneva,  Ohio,  and  from  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
New  Haven,  came  to  preach  for  us.  The  people  were  pleased  with 
him,  and  with  his  wife  also,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Hon.  James 
Monroe,  a  prominent  member  of  Congress  from  Ohio.  Mr.  Fitch 
continued  to  supply  the  pulpit,  and  on  the  14th  of  February,  1874, 
a  call  was  given  him  to  settle,  which  he  accepted,  and  his  installa- 
tion was  on  the  12th  of  the  next  May.  His  salary  was  to  be 
$1,000  and  use  of  parsonage,  with  a  summer  vacation  of  four 
Sabbaths.  Dr.  Eld  ridge  of  Norfolk  preached  the  installation 
sermon  ;  right-hand  of  fellowship  by  Rev.  Mr.  Bonney  of  Falls 
Village;  charge  to  pastor  by  Rev.  Wm.  E.  Bassett  of  Warren; 
charge  to  the  people  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Bonar  of  New  Milford. 

Mr.  Fitch  proved  to  be  an  active,  earnest  worker,  with  an  eye 
to  all  parts  of  the  parish,  and  a  good  degree  of  executive  force,  in 
the  exercise  of  which  he  succeeded  to  a  good  degree  in  bringing 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  115 

the  latent  force,  in  the  members  of  the  church,  into  a  harmonious 
working  channel,  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  Redeemer's  Kingdom 
in  our  midst.  His  work  has  not  been  in  vain.  In  the  winter 
of  1875-6  there  was  an  increased  religious  interest  in  the 
church,  especially  during  and  after  the  week  of  prayer  on  the 
first  of  January.  The  indications  were  siich  that  it  was  thought 
best  to  invite  the  Litchfield  Northwest  Conference  to  hold  a  meet- 
ing here.  The  appointment  for  it  was  made  to  be  held  in  West 
Cornwall  on  the  26th  of  January.  Most  of  the  churches  were  repre- 
sented, and  there  was  a  large  attendance  of  the  people  in  this 
vicinity.  It  was  one  of  the  memorable  days  in  the  history  of  our 
church.  From  the  commencement  of  the  meeting  in  the  morning 
to  its  close  late  in  the  evening,  there  were  increasing  indications  of 
the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  A  sermon  by  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Bonar,  in  the  evening,  made  a  deep  impression  on  many  minds, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  services  a  deep  solemnity  rested  upon  the 
entire  assembly.  A  winter  of  active  religious  and  revival  work 
followed  this  meeting,  and  fifty  persons  united  with  the  church  as 
the  fruits  thereof.  Since  Mr.  Fitch  commenced  his  ministry,  sixty- 
nine  persons  have  thus  joined  us.  As  an  educator  and  trainer  of 
young  converts  into  the  work  and  experience  of  a  christian  life, 
Mr.  Fitch  has  excelled. 

For  a  long  time  there  has  been  a  pressing  need  for  a  better 
place  for  holding  meetings  in  West  Cornwall  than  they  have  had- 
Several  of  our  pastors,  previous  to  Mr.  Fitch,  have  urged  its  im- 
portance, and  repeated  efforts  have  been  made  to  obtain  one,  but 
without  success.  Soon  after  he  came  here,  Mr.  Fitch  began  to 
agitate  the  subject,  but  there  was  but  little  prospect  of  reaching 
the  desired  result.  As  a  last  resort  he,  with  Deacon  T.  S.  Gold, 
went  to  New  York,  and  called  upon  C.  P.  Huntmgton,  Esq.,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  whose  wife  was  a  daughter 
of  the  late  Wm.  Stoddard  of  this  place.  The  proposed  building 
of  a  chapel  as  aforesaid  was  talked  over  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hunt- 
ington, and  they  were  requested  to  aid  the  effort.  They  responded 
favorably,  and  said  if  we  would  Iniild  the  chapel,  costing  not 
less  than  twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  they  would  pay  the  last  one 
thousand  of  it,  provided  that  cleared  off  all  the  indebtedness  in- 
curred in  its  erection.  Under  the  inspiration  of  this  generous  offer, 
the  people  here  took  hold  of  the  work,  the  required  amount  was 
raised,  the  material  has  been  purchased,  contracts  made,  and  the 
foundations  are  now  (July,  1877)  being  laid,  and  we  trust  it  will 


116  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

be  completed  in  time  so  that  the  dedicatoiy  services  can  form  a 
part  of  these  records.  The  names  of  C.  P.  Huntington  and  wife 
will  ever  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  this  people  for 
their  liberal  aid  in  the  erection  of  the  chapel. 

The  Deacons. 

Beriah  Hotchkin  and  Phineas  Waller  were  the  first  chosen 
deacons  of  this  church,  and  they  held  the  office  until  1800.  Then 
Hezekiah  Clark  and  Jesse  Hyatt  were  chosen.  They  resigned  in 
1807,  and  Eliakim  Mallory  and  David  Clark  succeeded  them. 
Mr.  Clark  died  in  1811,  and  Titus  Hart  was  chosen.  Nathan 
Hart  and  Noah  Rogers,  4th,  were  chosen  in  1816.  Mr.  Rogers  re- 
signed in  1836,  on  account  of  ill  health,  and  James  Wadsworth 
was  elected.  Messrs.  Hart  and  Wadsworth  resigned  in  1854,  and 
E.  D.  and  R.  R.  Pratt  were  then  chosen  to  fill  the  places  thus 
vacated. 

These  deacons,  on  Sunday,  Nov.  1,  1868,  eighteen  years  after 
their  appointment,  resigned  back  to  the  church  the  positions  it 
hiid  so  generously  given  them.  The  church  seemed  unwilling  to 
release  them,  and  an  arrangement  was  made  by  which  they  were 
to  continue  in  the  office  three  years,  or  until  January  1,  1872. 
When  that  time  arrived,  by  vote  of  the  church,  a  limitation  was 
put  to  the  official  term  of  the  diaconal  office,  and  T.  S.  Gold  and 
E.  M.  Rogers  were  elected  deacons  for  five  years. 

Deacon  Rogers  died  in  the  winter  of  1876,  and  E.  D.  Pratt  was 
again  elected  deacon,  his  term  of  office  to  expire  on  the  first  of 
January,  1881.  Deacon  Gold's  term  of  office  having  expired  on 
the  29th  of  January,  1877,  he  was  again  elected  for  five  years, 
from  January  1,  1877. 

I  woiild  like  to  speak  a  word  in  regard  to  those  who  have  con- 
ducted our  service  of  song  in  the  sanctuary,  but  I  will  not  detain 
you  on  this  point,  further  than  to  recall  the  faithful,  sacrificing 
service  in  this  department  of  our  deceased  brother,  H.  M.  Hart. 
Neither  summer's  heat  nor  wintej''s  cold  deterred  him  from  the 
performance  of  his  work  and  duty  in  this  line,  and  when  he  was 
taken  away  we  realiziid  more  than  ever  before  how  great  a  bless- 
ing he  had  been  to  us. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

Paul  at  Athens  had  his  spirit  stirred  within  him  when  he  saw 
the  whole  city  given  to  idolatry. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  117 

So,  in  1781,  in  Gloucester,  England,  a  warm-hearted  christian 
man  had  his  spirit  stirred  when  he  saw  the  multitudes  of  children 
violating  God's  holy  day,  and  going  on  in  ignorance  of  the  great 
command  to  remember  and  keep  it  holy. 

The  great  question  with  him  was,  wliat  can  he  done  ?  The  result 
was  the  gathering  of  the  children  in  on  the  Sabbath  day  to  study 
the  word  of  God.  Thus  a  Sabbath-school  was  formed,  and  Rob- 
ert Raikes  became  one  of  the  world's  benefactors. 

How  great  a  fire  that  Httle  spark  has  kindled  I  The  little  hand- 
ful of  corn  has  become  like  unto  the  cedar  of  Lebanon,  that  to- 
day scatters  its  fragrance  over  all  the  civilized  world.  Sunday- 
schools  were  transplanted  to  this  country  about  1806,  and  we  first 
find  them  in  and  around  Boston. 

The  first  organization  of  one  in  our  church  was  in  1820. 

Mrs.  Smith,  the  young  bride  of  the  pastor,  had  been  connected 
with  a  Sunday-school  in  New  York,  and  soon  after  coming  here 
she  stirred  the  people  up  to  good  works  in  that  direction.  A 
school  was  formed,  with  Deacon  Nathan  Hart  for  Superintendent. 
Only  those  between  five  and  fifteen  years  of  age  were  invited  in 
as  scholars,  and  of  these  there  were  about  fifty.    , 

In  1829  there  existed  in  this  State  an  organization  known  as 
the  State  Sunday-school  Union.  To  that  this  school  was  an  aux- 
iliary, and  about  that  time  new  rules  and  regulations  were  adopted. 
Scholars  of  all  ages  were  invited  to  come  in,  and  the  school  in 
creased  to  an  average  attendance  of  about  eighty. 

Deacon  Hart  continued  as  superintendent  nearly  twenty  years. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Chalker  Pratt,  and  the  others  who  followed 
in  that  office  were  Eber  Cotter,  H.  M.  Hart,  T.  L.  Hart,  A.  S. 
Rogers,  E.  D.  Pratt,  A.  B.  Pratt,  R.  R.  Pratt,  T.  S.  Gold,  Stephen 
Poster,  N.  R.  Hart,  N.  Hart,  Jr.,  E.  B.  Hart,  and  E.  M.  Rogers. 

In  the  oft-recurring  revivals  with  which  this  church  has  been 
blessed,  the  Sunday-school  has  largely  shared. 

In  1858,  Samuel  Scovill,  2d,  then  in  his  theological  studies  at 
New  Haven,  while  at  home  in  one  of  his  vacations,  was  impressed 
with  the  necessity  that  something  be  done  to  bring  about  a  better 
observance  of  the  Sabl3ath  in  West  Cornwall. 

He  went  to  work  and  secured  the  organization  of  a  Sunday- 
school  in  that  part  of  the  parish.  From  its  commencement  it  has 
been  an  active  and  prosperous  institution  in  connection  with  this 
church,  and  beneficial  to  the  section  where  it  is  located. 

At  tiie  time  of  its  organization  Wm.  C.  Rogers  was  chosen  super. 


118  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

intendent.  After  two  or  three  years  Mr.  Rogers  removed  from 
the  town.  R.  R.  Pratt  succeeded  him,  and  from  that  time  on  has 
had  charge  of  that  school. 

The  admissions  to  this  church  have  been  as  follows: 

From  its  orgunization  in  1780  to  1805,  when  Mr.  Hawes  was  set- 
tled, the  number  was,       ------  48 

During  eight  years  of  Mr.  Hawcs's  ministry,           -            -            -  62 

From  1813,  when  Mr.  Hawes  left,  to  1819,  when  Mr.  Smitli  came,  26 

Under  Mr.  Smith's  pastorate,  of  nineteen  years,      -            -            -  113 

Under  Mr.  Tracy  in  1839,  and  other  intervals,        -            -             -  59 

Mr.  Maynard,  eleven  years,  -             -            -            -             -             -  162 

Mr.  Clarke,  four  years,          ..-..-  34 

Mr.  Wetherby,  seven  years,               ...            -             -  70 

Mr.  Brush,  six  years,            --...-  61 

Mr.  Fitch,  three  and  one-half  years,            ....  69 

"Whole  number,            .             -             .            _            -  704 
Our  present  membership  is  181. 

Were  it  best,  I  could  describe  the  footprints  I  have  seen,  as  I 
have  followed  up  the  lines  of  family  histories.  Some  of  them 
would  remind  us  that 

"We  may  make  our  lives  sublime,'* 

while  others  show  that  evil  words  and  deeds  are 

"A  blot  on  human  character  which  justice  must  wipe  out ;" 

and  all  verify  the  truthfulness  of  those  words  uttered  by  the 
Lord  God  amid  the  thunders  and  lightnings  of  Sinai,  wherein 
he  declared  that  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  should  be  visited  upon 
the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations  of  those  that 
hated  him,  while  mercy  should  be  shown  unto  thousands  of  those 
that  loved  him  and  kept  his  commandments. 

Influence — Who    shall    measure    its    height    or    its    depth,    its 
length  or  its  breadth  ? 

"  The  smallest  bark  on  life's  tempestnous  ocean 
Will  leave  a  track  l)ehind  for  evermore; 
The  lightest  wave  of  influence,  set  in  motion, 
Extends  and  widens  to  the  eternal  shore; 
We  should  be  watchful,  then,  who  go  before 
A  myriad  yet  to  l)e ;  and  we  should  take 
Our  bearing  canifully,  where  breakers  roar. 
And  fearfuf  tempests  gather ;  one  mistake 
May  wreck  unnumbered  barks  that  follow  in  our  wake." 

I  have  thus  brought  before  you  some  of  the  more  prominent 
points  of  our  past  history. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  119 

What  are  its  lessons  ? 

1.  "The  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting 
upon  them  that  fear  him,  and  his  nghteousness  unto  children's 
children. 

2.  If  pastor  and  people  properly  use  the  means  God  has  placed 
within  their  reach  for  the  cultivation  of  his  moral  vineyard,  a 
divine  blessing  will  surely  attend  and  follow  their  efforts. 

3.  The  religion  of  the  bible  made  practical  in  life,  exalts,  enno- 
bles, and  dignifies  human  character. 

Therefore,  in  the  language  of  another,  I  inquire  in  all  earnest- 
ness, 

"  Who  would  not  be  a  Christian  ? 
And  yet  we  see  men  shrinking  from  the  term 
As  though  it  brought  a  charge  against  them. 

But  it  is  the  loftiest  name  tlie  language  knows, 
And  all  the  names  in  all  the  languages 
Have  none  sublimer. 

It  breatlies  of  heaven  and  of  an 
Innnortal  life  with  God. 

We  have  seen  it  take  the  old  man, 
With  evening  shadows  resting  thick  upon  him  ; 
Oppressed  with  years,  and  wrinkled  o'er  with  cares. 
And  to  his  view  disclose  a  vision 
Whicli  has  made  the  old  man's  heart  to  sing  with  gladness. 

We  have  seen  it  take  those  in  all  the  vigor 
Of  life's  noontide  hours, 
And  make  them  co-workers  with  Christ, 
For  a  world's  salvation. 

We  have  seen  it  take  the  youth 
In  the  bright  morning  of  their  existence, 
And  train  them  up  in  wisdom's  ways. 
And  make  them  meet 
For  an  inheritance  beyond  the  skies. 

We  have  seen  it  take  the  child 
And  kiss  away  its  tears  ; 
Press  it  to  its  bosom. 
And  send  it  on  its  way  rejoicing. 

We  have  seen  it  take  the  outcasts, 
Whose  names  were  odious  m  the  streets, 
And  bring  them  back  to  virtue  and  to  God." 

And  hence  it  is  that  "godliness  is  profitable  unto  all  things 
having  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is  and  of  that  which  is  to 
come." 


120  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 


MEMORIAL  SERMON,  OR  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  SECOND 

CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH  OF    CORNWALL,  AT 

NORTH  CORNWALL,  CONN.,  JULY  9,  1876. 

By  Rev.  Charles  N.  Fitch,  Pastor. 

Job  viii,  8 — "  For  inquire  I  pray  thee  of  the  former  age,  and  prepare  thyself  to 
the  search  of  their  fathers." 

Rev.  iii,  1,  2 — "  I  know  thy  works.   .   .   .    I  have  not  found  thy  works  perfect." 

The  sources  of  information  for  this  historical  discourse  are: 

1.  Town  Records  from  1740  to  1800. 

2.  Societies'  Records — 1st  and  2d. 

3.  Church  Records — 1st  and  2d. 

4.  Historical  Sketches,  by  Rev.  Timothy  Stone,   of  the  Ecclesiastical 

History  of  Cornwall. 

5.  Records  of  L.  N.  Consociation,  and  L.  S.  previous  to  1790. 

6.  Association  Records,  L.  N. 

7.  Contributions  to  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Conn. 

8.  Genesis  of  New  England  Churches — Dr.  Bacon. 

9.  History  of  North  Cornwall  Church,  by  Deacon  R.  R.  Pratt. 
10.  Rev.  B.  C.  Megie,  D.  D.,  Pleasant  Grove,  New  Jersey. 

The  history  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church  of  Cornwall 
properly  begins  with  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Cornwall  in 
1738-40.  In  that  early  day  every  citizen  was  considered  to 
be  a  member  of  the  ecclesiastical  society  of  the  town  in  which  he 
resided.  He  was  taxed  to  support  worship;  and  the  law  recognized 
no  churches  but  Congregational  churches.  Up  to  1784  every  citi- 
zen could  be  compelled  by  law  to  aid  in  supporting  the  Congrega- 
tional church  of  his  town.  So  it  came  about,  that  the  church 
planted  in  Cornwall  was  the  Congregational  church  of  Christ. 

The  town  was  incorporated  at  the  May  session  of  the  Legislature, 
1740.  Some  families  had  moved  in  two  winters  before,  and  had 
braved  the  rigors  of  the  hard  winters  among  the  hills;  bixt  the 
incorporation  was  not  secured  until  the  spring  of  1740. 

On  the  first  day  of  July  following — thirty-six  years  before  the 
signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence — the  fathers  met  to 
take  the  requisite  steps  towards  a  permanent  legal  settlement. 
This  was  the  first  town  meeting;  and  how  was  its  business  opened  ? 
Undoubtedly  hy  prayer,  as  was  in  that  day  the  universal  custom. 
AU  business  pertaining  to  the  worship  of  God  was  transacted  in 
town-meeting,  and  so  naturally  God  was  invoked  to  bless  their 
meeting  and  their  business.  The  first  item  of  business,  according 
to  the  records,  shows  what  high  value  the  fathers  set  upon  religious 
privileges.  It  was  "  Voted,  that  the  whole  charge  of  Mr.  Harrison's 
preaching  among  us,  together  with  the  charge  of  bringing  him 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  121 

here,  and  boarding  him,  we  will  pay  out  of  the  first  tax  to  be 
assessed."  The  next  vote  of  the  meeting  was  of  the  same  tenor, 
to  wit:  "Voted,  that  we  will  send  Mr.  Millard  to  agree  with  a 
minister,  and  bring  him  to  preach  among  us." 

There  was  one  other  action  of  this  ancient  and  honorable  body 
which  deserves  notice.  Before  dispersing  to  their  own  rude  and, 
in  many  cases,  unfinished  homes,  they  remembered  the  promise  of 
the  Lord:  "My  tabernacle  shall  be  with  them;  yea,  and  I  will  be 
their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people."  They  voted,  therefore, 
"  '  That  we  think  it  necessary  and  convenient  to  build  a  meeting- 
house:' which  vote  was  unanimous  to  a  man." 

Thus  early  we  discover,  in  their  high  regard  for  the  worship  of 
God  and  the  services  of  the  christian  religion,  a  marked  relation- 
ship with  those  earlier  fathers  who,  "  as  soon  as  the  Mayflower  liad 
brought  them  into  a  safe  harbor,  fell  upon  their  knees  and  blessed 
the  God  of  heaven,  who  had  brought  them  over  the  vast  and 
furious  ocean,  and  delivered  them  from  all  the  perils  and  miseries 
thereof,  again  to  set  their  feet  upon  the  firm  and  stable  earth, — 
their  proper  element."* 

The  population  of  Cornwall  in  1740  was  twenty-five  families. 
Among  these  are  the  names  of  Jewell,  Spaulding,  Barrett,  Squires, 
Allen,  Griffin,  Fuller,  and  Roberts.  These  early  settlers  main- 
tained public  worship  from  the  first,  even  though  occasionally 
without  a  settled  pastor.  For  the  first  forty  years  the  only  church 
in  Cornwall  was  the  Consociated  Congregational  Church,  which 
jvas  laid  at  first  as  the  corner-stone  upon  which  the  town  was  built. 
Forty  years  from  the  time  the  first  corner-stone  was  laid,  the 
fathers  laid  another,  and  called  it  "The  Strict  Congregational 
Church  of  Cornwall."  But  although  the  second  stone  was  laid 
beside  the  first,  the  ceremony  lacked  the  fine  feature  of  harmony. 
The  second  church  was  formed  in  the  early  autumn  of  1780,  by 
secession  from  the  first.  "The  Separates,"  as  they  were  called  by 
their  opponents,  at  first  numbered  only  nine  souls,  but  theirs  were 
unusually  large  souls,  as  the  sequel  will  show.  The  names  of  the 
Separates  were: 

Andrew  Young,  James  Douglass, 

Phineas  Waller,  Marsh  Douglass, 

Elijah  Steele,  David  Clark, 

Samuel  Butler,  Hezekiah  Clark. 

Noah  Bull, 

*  Bacon's  Genesis  of  The  N.  E.  Churches,  p.  310. 
16 


122  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Of  this  list,  two — viz.,  Phineas  Waller  and  Elijah  Steele — ^had 
been  deacons  in  the  First  Church,  but  were  not  holding  that  posi- 
tion at  the  time  of  the  separation.  It  does  not  appear  why  Deacon 
Waller  was  succeeded,  but  Deacon  Steele  became  a  Quaker  in  senti- 
ment, and  his  successor  had  been  chosen  four  years  before  he,  with 
his  brethren,  withdrew.  Samuel  Butler  and  Marsh  Douglass 
never  united  with  the  new  church.  By  reference  to  the  Manual 
we  find  that  within  two  years  six  others  were  added  to  this  little 
company,  viz.: 

Beriah  Hotchkin,  Jesse  Hyatt, 

Noah  Rogers,  3d,  Mrs.  B.  Hotchkin, 

Ethan  Allen,  Mrs.  P.  Waller. 

This  ma.de  a,  grand  total  in  1782  of  thirteen  members.  If  this 
seems  to  us  a  small  nucleus  for  a  church,  we  should  be  reminded 
that  back  of  this  little  handful  was  a  majority  of  the  voters  of  the 
township  of  Cornwall  to  give  it  courage  and  strength.  In  fact  the 
cause  of  the  secession  was  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  ecclesiastical 
society  of  the  town  with  the  pastor,  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold. 

Mr.  Gold,  be  it  known  at  the  outset,  had  ministered  to  the  First 
Church  twenty  years  before  the  separation,  and  continued  its  pastor 
for  six  years  thereafter.  And  I  am  unable  to  find  any  suflBcient 
evidence  that  would  lead  one  to  question  his  purity  and  integrity 
of  Christian  character,  or  his  soundness  in  Christian  faith.  On 
the  contrary,  Mr.  Gold  had  enjoyed  an  unusual  influence  among 
his  own  people,  as  is  sufficiently  proven  by  the  fact  that  when  the 
crisis  came,  and  the  major  part  of  the  town  refused  to  support  the 
pastor,  and  demanded  of  the  church  that  they  should  dismiss  him, 
they  refused  to  comply,  but  stood  by  him  instead.  Then  there 
was  presently  a  great  gulf  opened,  on  the  one  side  of  which  stood 
the  pastor  and  the  majority  of  his  church;  behind  them  were  all 
the  consociated  churches  of  this  county,  together  with  their  min- 
isters forming  the  Consociation,  and  led  by  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Bellamy.  On  the  other  side  stood  only  a  single  rank  of  "rebels," 
with  that  "baker's  dozen  "  of  resolute  and  honest  church  members 
in  the  center,  flanked  by  a  majority  of  the  citizens  who  were  out- 
side the  pale  of  the  church. 

To  comprehend  the  situation  of  the  "Separates,"  you  must  bear 
in  mind  the  condition  of  religious  toleration  in  Connecticut  at  that 
time.  It  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  with  me  to  Old  Saybrook, 
where,  in  1708,  the  Saybrook  Platform  was  adopted.  The  adop- 
tion of  that  platform  fastened  the  peculiar  system  of  discipline  upon 
the  Connecticut  churches  known  by  the  name  of  Consociational; 


ECtLESIAgriCAL    HISTORY.  123 

for  the- platform,  when  it  was  adopted  by  the  council  at  Saybrook, 
was  ratified  by  the  Legislature,  and  declared  binding  upon  all  the 
churches  which  voluntarily  accepted  it. 

After  1708,  then,  there  was  an  "established"  church  in  Con- 
necticut. "  If  Congregationalists  became  disaffected  with  either 
their  pastor  or  brethren,  and  wished  to  worship  by  themselves,  they 
were  still  obliged  to  pay  their  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  church 
from  which  they  had  seceded"  (Ecc.  Hist,  of  Conn.,  p.  119). 
This  class  was  called  "Separates,"  although  they  preferred  the 
name  of  "Strict  Congregationalists." 

The  Separates  of  different  churches  had  different  local  causes 
for  separating,  but  the  principle  underlying  the  action  of  every 
separate  church  was  the  same.  They  fretted  against  the  bars  of 
Consociational  authority,  and  believed  in  the  superiority  of  the 
individual  church  in  all  matters  of  discipline.  They  objected  to 
the  system  of  discipline  laid  down  in  the  Saybrook  platform,  and 
to  having  that  system  crowded  down  their  throats  by  the  civil 
authority.  The  last  court  of  appeal  was  not,  in  their  view,  the 
Consociation,  but  the  church  itself.  In  this  they  were  what  their 
name  signified,  "Strict  Congregationalists,"  and  so,  in  a  certain 
sense,  reformers. 

"  They  abhorred  the  civil  enactments  which  authorized  and  regulated 
our  associations  and  consociations,  which  enactments  liave  long  since 
become  obsolete,  and  have  left  these  institutions  to  rest,  as  they  should, 
on  the  voluntary  principle."    (Eccl.  Hist,  of  Conn.,  p.  281.) 

So  far  this  church  was,  at  its  establishment,  a  separate  church. 
But  one  other  feature,  which  characterized  the  separate  churches, 
I  cannot  learn  that  this  church  ever  introduced,  viz.,  that  each 
church  should  ordain  its  own  pastor. 

But  with  the  principles  of  religious  liberty  advocated  by  the 
Separates,  this  church  was  in  full  and  cordial  sympathy.  Let  it  be 
here  recorded,  and  ever  remembered,  that  that  little  band  of  "  hig 
souls  "  contended  for  a  principle  in  their  act  of  separation  from  the 
mother  church  just  as  truly,  if  not  as  heroically,  as  the  same  gene- 
ration of  noble  men  had  done,  but  four  years  before,  in  their 
separation  from  the  mother  country  ! 

What  was  that  principle  ?  It  was  the  principle  of  "  no  taxation 
without  representation.^^ 

The  "tea-chests  "  that  they  threw  overboard  were  the  planks  of 
the   Say  1) rook   platform,  which  held  them  in  bonds  to  support  a 


124  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

minister  whom  they  did  not  wish  to  support,  but  whom  the 
majority  of  the  church  decided  to  stand  by,  and  whom  both  the 
consociation  and  legislature  decided  they  must  support;  and  so  by 
law  they  were  obHged  to  comply  with  the  decision  of  conso- 
ciation. 

They  rebelled  against  this  decision,  and  maintained  the  right  to 
withdraw  and  support  the  minister  of  their  choice. 

It  was  not  until  four  years  later,  or  1784,  that  tlie  law  was 
enacted  permitting  persons  to  choose  their  own  church.  There 
had  been,  up  to  this  time,  no  alternative  recognized  by  law  to  the 
true  Congregationalist  in  sentiment.  If  he  chose  to  attend  and 
support  a  "  Strict  Congregational "  church,  he  was  not  relieved  of 
his  tax  in  support  of  the  church  of  the  "  standing  order."  The 
only  exceptions  were  in  favor  of  Episcopalians,  Baptists,  and 
Quakers.  These  had  been,  as  early  as  1729,  exempted  from  the 
support  of  Congregational  churches.  This  act  of  exemption  is 
said  to  have  made  many  Baptists  and  Episcopalians. 

We  see  then  the  situation  'of  the  citizens  of  the  town  during  the 
period  of  which  we  speak.  A  majority  of  the  town  voted,  July  26, 
1779,  to  call  a  council  to  dismiss  the  pastor.  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold; 
but  unless  the  church  would  concur  in  calling  the  council,  the  town 
could  be  compelled  to  continue  his  support.  This  was  virtually 
taxation  without  a  voice  or  a  vote,  and  the  same  spirit  that  led 
them  four  years  before  to  declare  war  in  behalf  of  civil  liberty, 
inspires  now  the  step  they  take  for  religious  liberty. 

This  may  serve  to  explain,  in  part,  why,  in  their  difficulty  witli 
their  pastor,  they  were  opposed,  and  Mr.  Gold  was  supported,  by 
the  body  of  the  clergy  and  the  neighboring  churclies. 

They  declared  themselves  "Strict  Congregationalists,"  and  in 
sympathy  with  the  Separates,  who  were  exciting  great  hostility 
among  the  churches  of  the  "Standing  order,"  but  who  numbered 
at  one  time  over  thirty  churches  in  the  State.  To  this  class  of 
Separates,  however,  Connecticut  owes  more  than  to  any  other 
single  influence,  for  the  repeal  of  the  law  restricting  religious 
toleration.  They  aided  in  cultivating  public  opinion,  which 
secured  the  privilege  to  every  man  of  w.orshiping  God  "accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience." 

This  was  one  of  the  last  Separate  churches  formed  in  the  State, 
but  the  difficulty  between  these  two  churches  being  submitted  to 
the  legislature,  in  1784,  was  one  of  the  causes  in  securing  the 
repeal  of  the  law  above  referred  to. 


KCCLKSIASTICAL    HISTORY.  125 

The  names  of  the  committee  who  presented  the  case  to  the 
legislature  have  a  peculiar  historic  interest.  They  are  Major  John 
Sedgwick,  Dr.  Timothy  Rogers,  and  Andrew  Young. 

This  was  then  a  "  Separate  "  church,  and  notwithstanding  the 
occasional  displays  of  unchristian  temper  during  the  controversy, 
it  is  a  cause  of  great  satisfaction  to  know  that  the  fathers  who 
founded  it  were  impelled  to  the  step  by  their  loyalty  to  christian 
conviction,  and  their  truly  Puritan  regard  for  religious  liberty. 
•  In  behalf  of  the  First  church,  and  of  the  town  in  general,  it 
should  be  said,  also,  that  they  never  compelled  the  Separates  to 
pay  taxes  to  support  the  "standing  order,"  owing  partly,  perhaps, 
to  the  fact  that  the  "  Separates  "  were  in  the  majority;  but  mainly 
to  the  spirit  of  toleration,  which  was  at  work  here,  and  which 
was  preparing  the  town  to  pass  a  vote,  1782,  two  years  subsequent 
to  the  separation,  but  two  years  before  the  repeal  of  the  law  by  the 
State  Legislature,  permitting  each  person  taxed  to  say  to  which 
church  he  preferred  to  have  his  tax  applied,  whether  to  the  First 
or  Second  Congregational,  or  to  the  support  of  a  missionary  of  the 
Church  of  England,  who  had  been  preaching  in  the  town  for  a 
few  months. 

So  much  by  way  of  setting  the  actors  on  this  ecclesiastical 
stage,  one  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  midst  of  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  that  early  day.  In  no  other  way  should  we  be  able  to 
comprehend  their  acts,  and  do  justice  to  their  motives. 

I  pass  now  to  speak  of  the  mysterious  local  causes  of  this 
separation. 

A  vote  was  passed  at  a  town  meeting  held  July  26,  1779,  call- 
ing a  council  to  dismiss  the  pastor  of  the  First  church.  So  much 
is  clear.  It  is  in  evidence,  also,  that  the  church  met  six  weeks 
later  to  consider  this  question  forced  upon  it  by  the  town,  but 
decided  not  to  join  in  calling  a  council.*     It  is  understood  that 

*  Question  1st.  Doth  this  church  advise  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gold  to  concur  in  the 
vote  passed  by  this  town,  July  26, 1779,  to  call  a  council  to  dismiss  him  from  the 
work  of  the  ministry  among  them  ? 

Voted,  We  do  not  choose  so  to  do. 

Question  2d.  Is  it  the  duty  of  a  christian  people  to  make  a  minister's  salary 
good  as  well  as  the  wages  of  day  laborers  ;  the  minister  deducting  towards  the 
extraordinary  expense  of  the  present  war,  a  (juota  equal  to  the  estate  which  he 
possesseth  ? 

Voted,  It  is  their  duty  ! 

Test,  JOSEPH  BELLAMY,  ModW. 

Cornwall,  Sept.  6,  1779. 


126  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Dr.  Bellamy  gave  his  advice  against  the  council.  The  association 
was  asked  also  for  its  advice,  and  gave  it  against  the  council. 

The  result  was,  the  council  was  not  called;  the  pastor  was  not 
dismissed. 

The  next  action  of  the  town  relating  to  the  matter  in  hand) 
dates  April  10,  1780,  when  three  votes  were  passed,  as  follows: 

1.  "Are  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  willing  any  longer  to  be  gov- 
erned by  and  subjected  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Constitution  of  this  State, 
as  set  forth  in  the  Saybrook  Platform,  and  established  and  approved  by 
General  Assembly  of  this  State,  or  with  the  same  with  the  exceptions 
or  alterations  made  and  agreed  to  by  the  Consociation  of  Litchfield 
County  ?     Voted  in  the  Negative  !  " 

Vote  2d  (declares  them  to  be  Strict  Congregationalists  both  in  doctrine 
and  in  discipline  ;  but  as  no  exception  had  ever  been  taken  to  Congre- 
gational doctrine,  the  emphasis  was,  of  course,  upon  the  discipline  of 
tlie  Platform.) 

Vote  Sd.  "  That  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  be  desired  not  to  perform 
divine  service  any  more  in  this  town." 

One  month  later  the  vote  styling  themselves  Strict  Congrega- 
tionalists was  rescinded,  only  to  be  re-passed  June  19th,  with 
renewed  vigor,  as  though  the  vote  of  May  4th  represented  only  a 
minority,  and  the  town  had  rallied  again  in  June,  and  re-asserted 
its  authority. 

The  vote  as  last  passed,  remained  without  change  for  at  least 
twenty  years. 

Besides  the  above  action,  Mr.  Gold  was  again  desired  not  to 
preach  in  the  meeting-house. 

A  committee,  with  Capt.  Edward  Rogers  as  chairman,  was 
appointed  "to  procure  a  preacher  for  the  following  Sabbath, 
according  to  the  Congregational  mode  of  worship."  And  another 
committee,  consisting  of  Elijah  Steele,  Ithamar  Saunders,  and 
Noah  Rogers,  were  constituted  with  the  rather  unlimited  powers 
of  "taking  care  of  the  meeting-house;"  which  I  take  to  mean, 
that  if  Mr.  Gold  should  attempt  to  preach  in  the  meeting-house, 
this  committee  were  to  take  care  of  the  minister.  Tradition  says 
that  Saunders  was  the  member  who  "  took  care  "  oi  the  minister, 
keeping  him  out  of  the  pulpit  by  taking  up  his  position  on  the 
pulpit  stairs,  and  preventing  Mr.  Gold'^  entering  to  deliver  the 
sermon  on  Thanksgiving  day.  For  this  unlawful  proceeding 
Saunders  was  fined  to  a  considerable  amount. 

The  record  shows  that  the  above  votes  were  ratified  June  30th, 
and  that  January  22,  17H1,  the  town  voted  that  Mr.  Gold  should 
not   receive  his  salary  for  the  previous  year.      A  lawsuit  followed 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  127 

which  ended  in  a  compromise.  The  separation  took  place  some 
time  during  the  year  1780,  at  least  before  the  middle  of  October.* 
The  causes  which  led  up  to  this  unfortunate  rupture  between 
the  men  of  the  town  on  the  one  side  and  the  pastor  and  church 
on  the  other,  are  not  very  clearly  defined  in  any  of  the  records 
which  I  have  been  able  to  find.  According  to  Mr.  Stone — whose 
sketches  are  the  most  thorough  and  satisfactory,  impartial,  dis- 
criminating, and  candid — in  fact,  the  only  consecutive  history  of 
Cornwall  yet  written: 

"  Embarrassment  of  lousiness,  the  confusion  of  the  public  mind,  and 
the  privations  resulting  from  the  condition  of  the  country,  made  it  more 
difficuU^  to  pay  a  minister's  salary. 

"  All  ministers  settled  as  pastors,  according  to  the  law  of  the  State, 
were  excmjited  from  all  taxes.  Mr.  Gold  was  an  ardent  friend  to  the 
revolutionary  movements  of  the  country,  and  he  ofFei'ed  to  deduct  from 
his  annual  salary  so  much  as  his  ])roperty  would  demand,  and  the 
exigencies  of  the  times  required.  How  tar  this  proposal  was  accepted 
is  not  now  known."    (For  particulars,  see  Stone's  Sketches,  p.  31,  seq.) 

The  real  nub  of  trouble  was  the  minister's  salary.  It  became 
difficult,  owing  to  the  war,  to  raise  the  stipulated  salary.  Mr.  Gold, 
in  what  he  regarded  the  spirit  of  patriotic  sympathy,  no  doubt, 
submitted  his  property  to  taxation.  Even  this  concession  did  not 
satisfy  the  people.  Instances  in  which  pastors  had  voluntarily 
resigned  an  entire  year's  salary  in  order  to  make  the  burdens  of 
the  people  lighter,  were  not  uncommon ;  one  had  occurred  so  near', 
as  in  the  parish  of  Kent,  where  Nathaniel  Taylor  was  the  minister. 

The  people  felt  that  one  who  was  so  well  able  to  release  them 
from  a  part  of  their  pecuniary  obligations  as  was  their  pastor — as 
he  was  reputed  wealthy — was  not  evincing  sufficient  consideration 
for  their  distressed  situation,  in  holding  them  to  the  strict  letter 
of  their  engagement.  But  Mr.  Gold  felt  that  as  he  had  submitted 
to  taxation,  ''and  such  a  reduction  from  his  salary  as  the  exigencies 
of  the  times  required,"  it  was  unreasonable  to  require  yet  further 
reductions. 

Before  the  actual  separation,  feeling  ran  high,  and  unchristian 
conduct  is  chargeable  to  both  parties. 

Mr.  Gold  not  feeling  inclined  to  withdraw  his  claims,  and  the 
disaffected  citizens  feeling  that  the  claims  were  unjust,  and  yet 
that,  owing  to  Mr.  Gold's  wealth  and  personal  influence,  an  appeal 
to  Council  was  not  likely  to  result  favorably  to  them,  at  length 
withdrew,  and  began  to  hold  services  separately,  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1780. 

*  See  Records  of  First  Church  in  Mr.  Gold's  handwriting :  also  Records  of 
Consociation  for  June  5,  1781. 


128  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

For  some  time  after  the  separation,  the  new  church  had  neither 
permanent  pulpit  nor  priest.  It  met,  however,  for  pubHc  worship, 
regularly,  in  such  of  the  houses  of  the  Separates  as  were  central 
and  suitable. 

While  John  Cornwall  was  the  stated  preacher,  the  services 
were  more  commonly  held  at  his  own  residence,  on  the  site  more 
recently  known  as  "the  Carrington  Todd  residence." 

The  first  minister  which  the  new  church  had  was  not  Mr.  Corn- 
wall, as  is  usually  stated,  but  Rev.  Samuel  Bird,  who  had  been 
pastor  of  a  New  Haven  church — now  the  North  Church.  This 
"  Bird  "  was  not  "  in  hand  "  of  the  infant  church  but  a  few  months. 

After  him  came  the  Rev.  John  Cornwall,  a  recent  "  graduate  " 
from  a  shoe-shop  in  Branford.  In  Mr.  Cornwall's  family  Bible  is 
this  sentence,  written  on  the  fly-leaf:  "Lived  without  God  until  I 
was  20  years  of  age."*     He  was  converted  to  Christ  at  that  age. 

J  ohn  Cornwall  was  a  strong,  eccentric  preacher,  devoted  to  his 
calling;  with  powerful  convictions,  and  fearless  in  expressing 
them;  having  little  of  the  learning  of  "the  Schools,"  but  with 
such  a  fund  of  general  knowledge,  and  an  acknowledged  ability, 
as  gave  him  great  respect  among  his  people. 

He  was  twice  sent  to  the  legislature. 

At  one  session  of  legislature,  Mr.  Cornwall  and  Mr.  Hezekiah 
Gold  were  the  representatives  from  Cornwall. 

Mr.  Cornwall  was  never  installed  over  the  church,  but  it  was 
while  he  was  preaching  to  them  that  the  first  house  of  worship 
was  erected,  1785. -j- 

In  this  connection,  I  will  speak  of  the  locations  of  the  various 
houses  of  worship  which  these  two  societies  have  had. 

The  old  First  meeting-house  in  the  town  was  built  on  the  site  of 
Jas.  D.  Ford's  homestead.  In  1785,  the  second  meeting-house 
was  begun  by  the  "  Separates,"  on  the  site  of  the  present  school- 
house  at  Cornwall  Center. 

In  1790,  the  first  house  was  pulled  down,  enlarged,'' and  rebuilt 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  church  at  Cornwall. 

In  1826,  the  Second  society  built  this  house  in  which  we  are  at 

*  See  Deacon  Pratt's  History. 

t  Respecting  the  date  of  the  erection  of  this  first  house,  it  may  bo  well  to  say 
that  Mr.  Stone  gives  it  1785,  and  an  indirect  reference  is  made  to  such  a  house 
in  one  of  the  old  papers  on  tile,  dated  February,  1786,  which  shows  it  to  have 
been  standing  then  and  partially  finished.  Mr.  Stone  says  it  was  never  com. 
pleted,  so  wc  conclude  that  it  was  begun,  at  least,  in  1785.  The  date  in  the 
manual  of  1858  is  therefore  too  late  (1787)  by  two  years. 


ECCI^ESIASTICAL    HISTORY. 


129 


present  assembled  at  North  Cornwall.  (See  Nathan  Hart's  sketch 
of  erection  of  North  Cornwall  meeting-house.) 

Mr.  Cornwall  removed,  in  1792,  to  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
ministered  to  a  Congregational  church  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  May  12,  1812. 

Before  Mr.  Cornwall  ceased  his  labors  with  the  Second  church, 
christian  fellowship  had  been  so  far  revived  as  that  Mi-.  Gold  was 
invited  to  preach  in  its  new  house  of  worship. 

And  after  Mr.  Cornwall's  departure,  efforts  to  re-unite  the  two 
churches  were  begun,  which,  though  never  resulting  in  anything 
satisfactory,  were  continued  at  intervals  for  thirty  years.  One 
would  judge  from  the  records  that  every  proper  expedient  had 
been  employed  to  bring  about  this  desirable  end.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  go  into  the  history  of  those  fruitless  efforts  at  reunion 
which  fill  the  pages  of  our  society's  records.  Besides  the  latent 
feeling  founded  upon  the  history  of  the  separation,  there  were 
geographical  objections  to  the  reunion.  No  site  sufficiently  central 
to  accommodate  all  the  citizens  could  be  settled  upon.  It  is  difli- 
cult  to  avoid  the  impression  that,  while  men  had  by  their  variances 
caused  the  separation,  a  "divinity  "  shaped  their  "  ends "  to  prevent  a 
reunion. 

Mr.  Cornwall  was  ordained  by  the  "  Morris  County  Presbytery  " 
of  New  Jersey,  which  was  organized  in  1780,  "by  secession  from 
pure  Presbyterianism."  It  was  "based  mainly  on  the  principle  of 
the  independency  of  the  local  church,  yet  assuming  that  the  power 
of  ordination  was  vested  in  the  Presbytery."*  As  it  is  known  that 
Mr.  Cornwall  was  accustomed  to  attend  the  sessions  of  this  Pres- 
bytery, and  that  he  also  took  with  him  one  or  more  members  of 
this  church,  it  is  probable  that  it  was,  for  a  year  or  two,  connected 
with  this  "  Presbyterio-Congregational  Presbytery." 

The  earliest  records  of  the  Second  society  which  have  been  pre- 
served, date  from  the  year  1793,  when  Wm.  Kellogg  was  chosen 
clerk,  and  since  which  time  the  records  have  been,  in  the  main, 
well  kept.  Mr.  Kellogg's  entries  are  thorough  and  business-like. 
He  was  clerk  eight  years,  then  was  succeeded  by  Noah  Rogers,  Jr., 
or  "Noah  4th,"  who  served  eighteen  years,  until  1819.  It  is 
barely  possible  that  the  records  of  this  society,  from  1780  to  1793, 
are  yet  in  existence,  but  though  I  have  made  diligent  search,  they 
are  not  to  be  found. 

*Rev.  B.  C.  Megie,  D.D. 
17 


130  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  said  that  the  church  records 
begin  with  the  settlement  of  the  first  pastor,  Rev.  Josiah  Hawes,* 
called  December  18,  1804,  and  ordained  March  14,  1805.  By  a 
vote  passed  by  the  church  in  1807,  it  was  decided  not  to  copy 
into  the  new  book  "transactions  of  a  more  ancient  date  than  those 
pertaining  to  the  settlement "  of  Mr.  Hawes. 

Whether  the  fathers  thought  best  not  to  transmit  to  their  chil- 
dren the  particulars  of  the  early  difficulties,  or  whether  they  thought 
they  might  be  sufficiently  secure  in  their  place  "on  file,"  it  is  to  be 
deplored  that  they  failed  to  leave  in  more  enduring  form  their 
written  testimony  upon  their  actions  and  motives  of  action  during 
those  "  times  that  tried  men's  souls." 

In  the  early  spring  of  1794,  the  Rev.  Israel  Holley  came  to 
preach  to  the  "North  Church,"  as  it  was  called.  Mr.  Holley  was 
ordained  over  the  church  in  Suffield,  Conn.,  June,  1763.  He  was 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Granby  nine  years,  and  was,  it  is  said, 
seventy  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  Cornwall. 

The  society  voted,  June  11,  1794,  to  hire  Mr.  Holley  "to  take 
charge,  in  this  society,  as  a  Gospel  minister,  and  teacher  of  piety 
and  morality,  for  the  term  of  five  years."  The  society  had  pre- 
viously offered  to  join  with  the  church  in  setthng  Mr.  Holley,  but 
as  he  did  not  wish  to  be  settled,  he  was  accordingly  hired  for  a 
limited  term.  Mr.  Holley's  salary  was  "  £60  lawful  money,  one- 
third  part  of  which  was  to  be  paid  in  necessaries  of  living,  and 
fifteen  cords  of  firewood  of  good  quality,  delivered  at  his  dwelling." 

In  the  last  decade  of  the  last  century,  and  near  its  close,  a 
revival  of  religion,  beginning  in  Hartford,  and  extending  over 
Litchfield  County,  reached  this  church  in  the  latter  part  of  Mr. 
Holley's  ministry.  How  much  its  advent  was  due  to  Mr.  Holley's 
labors,  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  It  was  one  of  Connecticut's  "revival 
periods,"  and  this  church,  with  many  of  its  sister  churches,  received 
a  blessing. 

Dr.  Griffin  says:  "From  1792,  I  saw  a  continued  succession  of 
heavenly  sprinklings,  until  I  could  stand  at  my  door  in  New  Hart- 
ford, and  number  fifty  or  sixty  congregations  laid  down  in  one 
field  of  divine  wonders." 

This  church  was  one  of  those  "divine  wonders"  of  that  "  field  " 
which  the  good  Doctor  saw,  as  it  received  twelve  additions  in 
September,  1800,  as  the  result  of  that  revival. 

*  The  initial  "  B.,"  which  was  sometimes  inserted  in  this  name,  did  not  belong 
to  it. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    mSTORY.  131 

It  was  also  the  first  in  a  long  series  of  revivals  with  which  this 
church  has  been  blest.*  It  may  be  regarded  as  a  happy  prophecy 
of  the  better  days  to  come,  both  for  the  cause  of  Christ  in  this 
town,  and  for  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  local  churches. 

Up  to  1804,  the  Second  society  had  had  no  legal  establishment. 
It  was  incorporated  at  the  October  session  of  the  legislature,  and 
called  a  " poU-point, "  i.e.,  any  person  could  join  the  society  by 
lodging  his  certificate  of  his  intention,  within  a  specified  time, 
with  the  town  clerk.  The  society  thus  formed  was  taxed  to 
support  its  own  form  of  worship  according  to  the  number  of  polls 
and  the  amount  of  "ratable  property."  The  tax  in  1805  was 
thi'ee  cents  and  five  mills  on  the  dollar. 

The  minister's  salary  was  raised  in  this  manner  until  the  settle- 
ment of  Walter  Smith,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  year  1814, 
when  a  subscription  was  circulated  to  procure  preaching  for  the 
summer  and  fall.  The  tax  of  the  poor  was  abated  by  subscription. 
I  subjoin  a  list  of  the  members  of  the  society  at  its  incorporation, 
October,  1804.f 

The  church  now  began  to  cast  about  for  a  suitable  man  to  settle 
with  them  in  the  full  relation  of  pastor  to  the  flock.  They  thought 
they  had  found  the  right  man  in  Rev.  Alvin  Somers,  of  Sharon. 
But  notwithstanding  their  very  cordial  call,  they  were  not  success- 
ful in  retaining  Mr.   Somers.     They  succeeded  better  with  Mr. 

*The  total  number  of  additions  to  the  church  through  the  aid  of  twelve 
revivals,  is  four  hundred  and  seventy -four,  or  an  average  of  nearly  forty  to  each 
revival.     This  includes  the  year  1876. 

tNoah  Rogers,  Abraham  Hotchkin,  Eliakim  Mallory,  Sam'l  Scovel,  Solo- 
mon Hart,  Silas  Clark,  David  Clark,  Timothy  Scovel,  Titus  Hart,  Thadeus 
Cole,  Jesse  Hyatt,  Nathan  Millard,  Stephen  Scovel,  Elias  Hart,  Bradley  Catlin. 
Oliver  Burnham,  Joseph  Scovel,  Joel  Harrison,  Jason  Coles,  Daniel  Harrison, 
William  Kellogg,  Jasper  Pratt,  Ichabod  Howe,  Elisha  Carrier,  Benjamin  Carrier, 
Luther  Harrison,  Oliver  Ford,  Henry  Baldwin,  Lemuel  Jennings,  Phineas  Hart, 
Saml.  Doming,  Jacob  Scovel,  Oliver  Hotchkin,  Abner  Hotchkin,  David  Jewel, 
Levi  Miles,  Richard  Wickwire,  2d,  William  Johnson,  Saml.  Scovel,  Jr.,  Israel 
Dibble,  Justi.s  Sceley,  Asa  Emmons,  Asaph  Emmons,  John  JefFers,  Joseph  North, 
John  Kellogg,  Theodore  Norton,  Seth  Wadhanis,  Jr.,  Sturges  Williams,  Minor 
Pratt,  Noah  Rogers,  Jr.,  Charles  T.  Jackson,  Timothy  Johnson,  James  Wads- 
worth,  Jr.,  Joel  Millard,  Saml.  Rexford,  Elias  White,  Andrew  Cotter,  Eliakim 
Mallory,  Jr.,  Ezra  Mallory,  Nathan  Hart,  Saml.  A.  Cole,  Silas  Meashum,  John 
Dean,  Theodore  Colton,  Joseph  Ford,  Zephaniah  Hull,  Jonathan  Scovel, 
Edmund  Harrison,  Henry  Balilwin,  Jr.,  Erastus  Beirce,  Lumau  Seeley,  Fred- 
erick Tanner,  John  Dobson,  I^evi  Scovel,  Stephen  Scovel,  2d,  Jerijah  Dean, 
Gildmore  Hurlburt,  Jo.siah  Hawley,  Joel  Trowbridge,  Mathew  Morey,  Noah 
Dibble. 


132  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Hawes.  Josiah  Hawes,  the  first  pastor  of  this  church,  was  a 
native  of  Warren,  Conn.  He  graduated  at  Williams  College  in 
the  year  1800;  studied  theology  with  Dr.  Chas.  Backus,  of  Somers, 
so  celebrated  in  his  day  for  his  "  School  of  the  Prophets,"  in  which 
many  of  the  clergymen  of  Connecticut  were  prepared  for  the 
ministry.  Mr.  Hawes  was  licensed  by  Litchfield  North  Associa- 
tion Sept.  28,  1802.  This  was  his  first  parish.  He  was  settled  by 
ordination  March  14,  1805,  the  ordaining  council  being  the  Litch- 
field North  Consociation,  from  which  this  church  had  withdrawn 
a  quarter  of  a  century  before. 

The  explanation  of  this  condescension  on  the  part  of  the  Con- 
sociation is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  church  and  society  had 
rescinded  the  odious  vote  by  which  they  had  styled  themselves 
"  Strict  Congregationalists."  Having  worn  for  twenty- two  years 
the  name,  and  having  seen  the  changes  wrought  in  the  Consocia- 
tion which  they  had  desired,  and  having  no  desire  to  maintain  a 
name  which  did  not  at  that  time  signify  any  living  issue,  the 
society  voted,  Sept.  23,  1802,  "to  reconsider  and  make  null  the 
vote"  referred  to.  The  church  was  received  back  into  Consocia- 
tion Sept.  27,  1809. 

Mr.  Hawes'  salary  at  settlement  was  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  dollars  and  eighteen  cords  of  firewood. 

The  services  of  Mr.  Hawes'  ordination  have  a  peculiar  interest 
from  the  fact  that  the  First  Church  was  invited  to  the  council,  and 
was  represented  by  its  pastor,  Rev.  Timothy  Stone,  and  the  vener- 
able Gen.  Heman  Swift.  This  ordination  marks  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  these  churches.  The  pastor  of  the  parent  church  gave 
to  the  pastor-elect  of  the  seceding  church  the  "right  hand  of 
fellowship."  During  the  eight  years  of  Mr.  Hawes'  ministry  here, 
there  was  no  cessation  of  the  friendly  christian  intercourse  thus 
delightfully  begun  between  these  brethren  and  participated  in  to  a 
good  degree  by  their  people.  On  several  occasions  the  pastors 
with  their  flocks  met  together  for  christian  conference  and  inter- 
course. 

The  other  parts  to  Mr.  Hawes'  ordination  were  a  sermon  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Starr  of  Warren;  and  the  charge  to  the  pastor  by  the 
venerable  John  Cornwall.  It  had  not  then  become  the  custom  to 
charge  the  people. 

The  ministry  of  Mr.  Hawes  proved  a  very  prosperous  one  for 
the  church,  and  must  have  done  much  to  satisfy  the  conscientious 
"Separates"  that  their  enterprise  was  approved  of  God. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  133 

At  his  ordination  the  church  numbered  twenty-five  members,  to 
wit,  eleven  males  and  fourteen  females.  When  he  was  dismissed 
he  had  received  sixty-two  members,  of  whom  forty-six  entered  at 
one  communion,  the  fruit  of  the  revival  of  1807. 

Mr.  Stone  bears  cheerful  and  hearty  testimony  to  the  work  and 
worth  of  his  cotemporary  and  co-la])orer  in  this  vineyard  of  the 
Lord.  He  is  also  spoken  of  in  our  church  manual  as  "  an  earnest 
and  faithful  pastor,  a  man  of  prayer  and  effort." 

He  seems  to  have  had,  to  an  unusual  degree,  the  confidence  and 
love  of  his  people.  They  found  it  difficult,  nevertheless,  to  raise 
the  stipulated  salary.  In  1809  Mr.  Hawes,  being  persuaded  tli"&t 
his  salary  was  not  sufficient  to  meet  his  expenses,  asked  for  a 
dismissal. 

But  as  the  society  raised  by  subscription  the  sum  of  four  hun- 
dred dollars  to  enable  him  to  purchase  in  part  the  place  on  which 
he  lived,  Mr.  Hawes  was  relieved  for  the  time  being  and  remained. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  at  this  time  the  society  took  care  to  speak 
of  their  "  great  reluctance  at  being  called  to  part  with  our  beloved 
teacher  in  the  gospel  rules  of  our  Lord."  Again,  however,  in 
June,  1813,  the  pastor  informs  the  society  of  renewed  embarrass- 
ment on  account  of  the  insufficient  salary,  and  asks  to  be  dis- 
missed. 

The  resignation  was  received  with  regret,  and  the  pastor  was 
dismissed  by  Consociation  at  Ellsworth,  July  6,  1813,  with  the 
"  full  approbation  "  of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  "as  a  prudent, 
faithful,  and  holy  minister  of  Christ,"  and  cordially  commended 
to  the  confidence  of  the  churches.  Mr.  Hawes  was  settled  eighteen 
months  later  over  the  church  in  Lyme,  where  for  more  than  twenty 
years  he  resided,  "beloved  by  his  flock."  From  Lyme  he  removed 
to  Sidney  Plains,  N.  Y.,  in  1835.  From  thence,  in  1840,  he  went 
to  Scienceville,  N.  Y.,  supplying  the  Congregational  Church  until 
1847,  when  he  removed  to  Unadilla,  Ctsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  sup- 
plied the  First  Presbyterian  Church  until  his  death,  June  26,  1851. 

Mr.  Hawes  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-three,  and  is 
buried  at  Sidney  Plains,  N.  Y. 

During  the  interim  between  the  dismissal  of  Mr.  Hawes  and  the 
choice  of  his  successor,  the  question  of  union  again  came  up,  and 
never  was  the  effort  so  nearly  successful  as  at  this  time. 

The  North  Society  proposed  to  unite  under  Mr.  Stone,  then 
pastor  of  the  First  Church.  This  proposition  all  of  the  First 
Church  were  ready  to  accept,  save  three,  viz.,  C^apt.  Seth  Pierce, 


134  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Col.  Benj.  Gold,  and  Samuel  Hopkins,  Esq.  Their  opposition  is 
said  to  have  been  called  out  by  the  fear  that  the  plan  would  ulti- 
mately result  in  the  removal  of  the  meeting-house  from  the  valley. 
Furthermore,  it  is  clear  that  the  plan  was  discouraged  by  Mr.  Stone, 
who  himself  records  the  anxiety  he  felt  lest  "  the  pastor  of  the 
First  Church  should  have  been  without  a  society  and  the  society 
without  a  minister."     This  failure  of  effort  occurred  in  1815. 

We  find  the  names  of  only  two  ministers  who  preached  for  the 
church  during  the  first  two  years  after  Mr.  Hawes'  dismissal. 

The  first,  Francis  L.  Robbins,  a  young  minister  licensed  by 
Litchfield  North,  and  afterwards  settled  at  Enfield,  where,  after  a 
pastorate  of  thirty-four  years,  during  which  he  had  witnessed  four 
powerful  revivals,  his  death  occurred  in  the  progress  of  a  revival. 
Mr.  Robbins  was  liked,  but  was  not  a  candidate.  The  second 
name  mentioned  is  that  of  a  Mr.  Hawley,  from  Hinsdale,  N.  Y. 
But  the  only  man  who  left  his  mark  upon  the  church  during  this 
interval  was  Grove  L.  Brownell. 

He  was  raised  up  for  the  ministry  in  the  neighboring  church  in 
North  Canaan;  graduated  at  Burlington  College,  Vt. ;  preached 
for  a  time  at  Woodbury,  Conn. ;  and  was  for  eight  years  pastor  at 
Sharon. 

The  labors  of  Mr.  Brownell,  under  the  lead  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
resulted  in  a  revival  which  brought  from  twenty  to  twenty-five 
members  into  the  church,  and  stimulated  the  entire  community  to 
renewed  efforts  for  the  permanent  success  of  the  gospel  in  Corn- 
wall. 

This  revival  was  in  the  winter  of  1815-16.  For  three  years 
thereafter  the  church  depended  upon  occasional  supplies,  concern- 
ing whom  nothing  has  been  loft  on  record. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  year  1819  the  church  seems  to  have 
had  a  fresh  infusion  of  life  or  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Tins 
effusion  may  have  been  the  result  in  part  of  a  renewed  devotion 
to  prayer;  and  in  part,  of  a  report  of  the  "Committee  on  Ways 
and  Means  " — a  special  committee, — who  reported  a  plan  of  volun- 
tary subscription  for  the  support  of  preaching,  saying  that  a  paper 
was  then  in  circulation,  which  was  meeting  with  such  good  success 
that  they  would  advise  the  society  to  proceed  at  once  to  call  and 
settle  a  minister  on  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars. 

Until"  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Smith,  members  of  the  society  had 
been  taxed  for  the  support  of  preaching.  There  is  no  evidence 
previous  to  this  time  of  money  having  been  raised  for  this  purpose 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  135 

by  subscription,  with  the  single  exception  of  1814,  unless  we  con- 
sider that  the  gift  of  four  hundred  dollars  to  Mr.  Hawes  ought 
also  to  be  excepted. 

The  tax  system  was  the  prevailing  system  until  1819. 

And  just  here  permit  me  a  word  as  to  the  custom  of  the  early 
churches  of  Connecticut  with  respect  to  raising  the  salary  of  the 
minister. 

It  was  raised,  as  you  all  know,  by  a  tax,  up  to  1784;  and  the 
taxes  thus  raised  went  to  support  Congregational  churches  only, 
and  such  only  as  were  consociated. 

In  1784,  four  years  after  this  church  was  established,  the  law 
requiring  citizens  to  be  taxed  for  support  of  churches  of  the 
"established  order"  was  repealed  in  the  legislature,  as  before 
stated.  This  left  all  free  to  worship  with  whatever  denomination 
they  preferred.  This  was  a  step  toward  religious  liberty,  and  but 
a  stej),  for  still  all  were  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  church  of 
their  choice.  Every  one  was  at  liberty  to  choose  behveen  churches^ 
but  no  one  was  allowed  to  choose  "no  church."  Persons  could 
withdraw  from  one  society  by  lodging  with  the  clerk  a  certificate 
to  the  effect  that  they  were  to  join  another;  but  they  were  not 
permitted  to  ".sign  off  to  nothing." 

In  1818,  however,  when  the  new  State  constitution  was  adopted, 
this  compulsory  law  was  repealed,  and  every  man  was  left  free  to 
support  any  church  or  no  church,  just  as  he  might  choose.  This 
was  regarded  by  many  excellent  men  as  a  dangerous  expedient. 
It  seems  strange  that  men  should  have  been  found  as  late  as  1818 
who  looked  with  forebodings  to  the  future  of  the  church  of  Christ, 
if  christians  should  be  left  free  to  not  serve  God,  as  well  as  to 
serve  Him  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 

Yet  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  has  left  a  sermon  against  the  plan  and 
idea  of  voluntary  support  of  the  gospel.  But  I  am  happy  to  be 
able  to  chronicle  the  superior  faith  of  the  fathers  of  this  church, 
who  in  1819  reported  that,  in  their  humble  opinion,  the  voluntary 
plan  was  the  best  plan.  The  committee  thus  reporting  were,  Oliver 
Burnham,  Benjamin  Sedgwick,  George  Wheaton,  Joseph  North, 
Hezekiah  Gold,  Joel  Catlin,  Nathan  Hart,  Seth  Dibble,  William 
Clark.  Their  report  was  accepted,  and  from  that  time  until  the 
year  after  the  erection  of  this  house  of  worship  the  minister's 
salary  was  raised  by  "the  subscription  plan." 

In  1827  the  custom  of  renting  the  pews  arose,  and  this  has 
been  continued  up  to  the  present  time.. 


136  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Rev.  Walter  Smith,  the  next  pastor  of  this  church,  was  born  in 
Kent,  in  the  year  1793;  graduated  at  Yale  in  1816;  pursued  the 
study  of  theology  two  years  with  Dr.  Matthew  Perrine,  of  New 
York  city.  Returning  to  Kent,  he  was  hcensed  by  Litchfield 
North  Association,  Sept.  30,  1818. 

Then  came  an  invitation  to  him  to  preach  at  the  North  Church 
in  Cornwall.  He  accepted,  and  was  asked  in  the  following  March 
to  settle  as  pastor.  He  consented,  and  was  ordained  June  2,  1819, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-six.     The  salary  was  five  hundred  dollars. 

Mr.  Stone  gave  the  young  pastor  the  "right  hand"  at  his 
ordination,  as  he  had  done  to  his  predecessor;  and  as  before,  so 
now,  this  public  act  was  a  real  index  of  the  private  fraternal  feel- 
ing which  ever  existed  between  these  neighboring  pastors. 

Mr.  Smith's  ministry  spanned  nineteen  years.  His  labors  were 
blessed  with  frequent  conversions.  Twenty  members  were  added 
to  the  church  in  1824,  in  1831  twenty-eight,  and  in  19  years,  113. 

Mr.  Smith  was,  in  his  pulpit  ministrations,  scholarly  and  effec- 
tive, and  in  private  life  an  amiable  and  estimable  man.  Toward 
the  close  of  his  ministry  the  state  of  his  health  precluded  his  doing 
much  pastoral  labor,  but  the  state  of  feeling  between  pastor  and 
people  never  ceased  to  be  that  of  mutual  christian  kindness  and 
confidence.  Upon  the  records  of  Consociation  he  stands  com- 
mended as  follows:  "The  Consociation  feel  it  their  privilege  to 
record  the  assurance  of  their  unabated  confidence  in  Mr.  Smith  as 
an  able,  faitliful,  and  devoted  minister  of  Jesus  Christ." 

The  church  accepted  Mr.  Smith's  resignation  April  3,  1838, 
solely  on  the  ground  of  failing  health  and  consequent  disability  to 
perform  the  duties  of  his  ofilce.  They  voted  at  the  same  time — 
although  he  had  not  been  able  to  supply  the  pulpit  since  January 
— to  continue  his  salary  until  June  1st. 

He  removed  in  the  spring  of  1840  to  Mt.  Vernon,  Ohio,  where 
he  resided  until  his  death,  which  occurred  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven. 

"We  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  the  language  of  his  estimable 
widow,  still  living:  "His  ministry  is  adjusted  on  the  other  side;" 
adding  only,  that  Mr.  Smith  is  spoken  of  only  with  affectionate 
regard  by  those  that  are  still  on  this  side. 

It  will  be,  I  am  confident,  no  digression  from  the  legitimate 
scope  of  this  history,  if  I  introduce  just  here  a  brief  testimonial  to 
the  worth  of  the  wife  of  Walter  Smith.  She  is  remembered  with 
marked  expressions  of  admiration,  by  many  present,  for  her  pru- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  137 

dence,  piety,  and  ability  to  honor  the  position  of  pastor's  wife. 
To  Mrs.  Smith  is  attributed  the  leading  part  in  establishing  the 
Sunday-school  in  Cornwall.  Her  bible  class  was  always  the  prom- 
inent class  in  the  school.  She  formed  the  "  Ladies'  Sewing  Cir- 
cle," an  important  department  of  the  church  work.  She  has  sur- 
vived her  husband,  and  now,  in  the  evening  of  her  Ufe,  reverts  to 
her  Cornwall  home  and  friends  with  affectionate  and  hallowed 
memories.* 

A  sister  of  Mr.  Smith,  Mrs.  Noah  Baldwin,  is  at  present  the 
oldest  resident  member  of  this  church,  a  woman  of  devout  piety 
and  true  worth. 

I  shall  speak,  in  this  connection,  of  the  revival  of  1830-31, 
which,  though  not  conducted  by  Mr.  Smith,  took  place  during 
his  ministry.  He  was  absent,  to  regain  his  health.  Among  the 
methods  by  which  it  was  promoted,  the  "  four-days'  meetings " 
are  spoken  of  as  most  effective.  Delegates  from  neighboring 
churches,  with  now  and  then  a  pastor,  visited  their  sister  churches, 
"  to  provoke  unto  love  and  to  good  works."  Messrs.  John  C.  Hart 
and  Augustus  Norton,  young  men  fresh  from  the  theological 
school,  labored  also  with  much  acceptance  during  this  revival. 

The  church  received  twenty-eight  members,  mostly  the  fruit  of 
the  revival.  The  following  persons,  now  living,  and  in  full  con- 
nection with  the  church,  joined  previous  to  this  revival,  to  wit: 
Mrs.  Sabra  Baldwin  (Noah),  Mrs.  Ithamar  Baldwin,  Mrs.  Jacob 
Scoville,  Mr.  Titus  L.  Hart,  Mrs.  ThLrza  Wheeler  (Samuel). 

At  Mr.  Smith's  dismissal,  there  ensued  an  interval  of  nearly 
three  years  in  which  the  church  was  without  a  settled  pastor;  but 
it  was  by  no  means  an  eventless  interval. 

By  reference  to  the  Manual,  it  appears  that  fifty-four  members 
were  added  to  the  church  during  that  interval,  of  whom  forty-four 
were  at  our  communion  in  March,  1839.  This  is  good  work  for 
interval-work,  surely  !  What  is  the  explanation  of  this  important 
addition  while  the  church  is  without  an  under-shepherd  ?  Evan- 
gelistic labor  by  Rev.  S.  J.  Tracy  !  Mr.  Tracy  was  introduced  to 
the  church  in  the  early  summer  of  1838,  soon  after  Mr.  Smith's 
ministry  closed.  He  preached  one  Sabbath,  and  was  then  absent 
from  Cornwall  until  fall,  when  his  protracted  labors  were  begun, 
and  continued  until  the  following  May. 

One  of  Mr.  Tracy's  first  methods  was  through  parish  visitation, 

*  Mrs.  Smith's  death  occurred  near  the  close  of  the  year  1876. 
18 


138  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

with  which  this  parish  has  been  familiar,  and  from  which  it  has 
reaped  rich  fruit.  Before  the  committees  salUed  out  upon  their 
work,  they  met  early  in  the  morning  at  the  school-house  near  the 
church,  for  a  season  of  prayer  and  christian  conference. 

In  the  evening  they  convened  at  the  church  to  report  to  a  public 
meeting  the  important  features  of  the  day's  work. 

Mr.  Tracy's  manner  of  presenting  gospel  truth  had  the  merits 
of  clearnesss,  force,  and  pungency,  and  usually  awakened  convic- 
tion in  the  minds  of  the  masses.  While  he  drew  upon  himself 
much  criticism  by  his  disregard  of  conventionalities,  and  some- 
times gave  offense  by  his  unwise  personal  appeals,  he  found  the 
way  to  many  hearts  that  remained  closed  to  other  men's  approaches. 
It  would  have  been  more  acceptable  to  a  large  class  of  respectable 
people,  if  Mr.  Tracy  had  had  more  of  that  gospel  grace  of  "gentle- 
ness "  by  which  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  was  marked,  and 
which  distinguished  "  the  Beloved  disciple  "  from  the  Baptist.  Elisha 
from  Elijah,  or  even  which  makes  Christianity  to  differ  from  Juda- 
ism; and  yet,  as  we  honor  the  bold,  dauntless  man  of  God,  "the 
Prophet  of  the  Mountains,"  for  faithfully  fulfilling  his  peculiar 
mission  in  his  own  chosen  way,  so  now  should  we  commend  to  a 
charitable  memory  the  evangelist  who  manifested  such  devout 
loyalty  to  the  person  and  "  works  "  of  "  Him  who  "  had  doubtless 
"  sent "  him. 

When  the  candidates,  converted  through  Mr.  Tracy's  instrumen- 
tality were  received  into  the  church,  he  was  asked  to  admit  and 
baptize  them,  which  he  did.  Mr.  Tracy  is  still  living.  He  resides 
in  Bast  Springfield,  Otsego  Coimty,  New  York. 

In  November,  1840,  the  church  heard  as  candidate,  Joshua  L. 
Maynard,  a  graduate  of  Union  Seminary,  New  York  City,  and  a 
Ucentiate  of  the  Association  of  New  London  County,  his  native 
county.  His  call,  with  "great  unanimity,"  was  voted  November 
23d;  he  was  ordained  January  14,  1841,  and  settled  with  a  salary 
of  $500. 

Mr.  Maynard  "was  a  man,"  says  Deacon  Pratt  in  his  history, 
"  of  ardent  piety,  consistent  in  his  daily  walk  and  conversation, 
and  his  sermons  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  of  Christ." 
He,  like  both  his  predecessors,  was  a  young  man. 

During  all  the  first  years  of  Mr.  Maynard's  ministry  there  were 
seasons  of  religious  interest;  but  it  was  not  until  1846  that  there 
occurred  a  general  revival.  This  revival  began  in  a  series  of 
prayer-meetings  held  at  the  residence  of  Deacon  Wadsworth.    The 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  139 

pastor  was  supported  by  a  strong  corps  of  earnest  workers,  and 
soon  the  good  work  spread  through  the  parish.  In  illustration  of 
the  judgment  of  the  pastor,  this  incident :  When  the  interest  was 
at  its  height,  the  deacons  asked  Mr.  Maynard  if  he  would  not  like 
some  evangelical  aid  from  aWoad.  "No!"  he  replied,  "if  the 
church  will  do  the  praying,  I  will  do  the  preaching,  and  we  will 
keep  quietly  along  with  the  work  God  has  given  us  to  do  !  "  Rev. 
Mr.  Stone  speaks  of  this  revival  as  truly  remarkable  for  the  depth 
and  earnestness  of  feeling  manifested,  combined  with  a  quiet  but 
impressive  solemnity  scarcely  ever  witnessed  by  him. 

"  But  at  North  Cornwall  all  was  still  and  impressive,  and  what 
was  yet  more  extraordinary,  there  was  no  similar  revival  in 
any  adjoining  society."*  Respecting  Mr.  Maynard's  ministry,  his 
successor,  Mr.  Clarke,  bears  cheerful  testimony  that  "It  was  at- 
tended signally  by  the  ministrations  of  God's  spirit,  and  the  church 
was  very  greatly  enlarged  and  strengthened  under  it." 

This  would  indicate  what,  from  my  own  observation,  I  believe 
to  be  the  truth,  that  Mr.  Maynard  was  not  a  man  who  merely 
planted  and  labored  for  others  to  enter  into  his  labors,  but  thanks 
to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  he  was  able  to  see  some  of  the 
fruit  of  his  labors  before  he  went  hence. 

The  largest  company  ever  received  into  this  church  at  any  one 
time,  it  was  Mr.  Maynard's  happiness  to  receive,  in  May,  1846, 
numbering  sixty-five.  During  that  same  year  the  total  admissions 
were  seventy-six.  Another  revival  in  1851  brought  in  forty-seven 
members.  It  was  Mr.  Maynard's  privilege  to  see  this  church  in- 
creased during  his  ministry  of  eleven  years,  by  one  hundred  and 
sixty-two  members,  of  whom  thirty-nine  were  by  letter,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  on  profession. 

In  1852  a  call  was  extended  to  Mr.  Maynard  from  the  Congre- 
gational church  in  East  Douglass,  Mass.  The  call  was  accepted; 
he  was  dismissed  May  25,  1852,  with  the  assurance  of  "  the  undi- 
minished confidence  and  affection  "  of  his  people.  His  death  oc- 
curred in  the  spring  of  1873,  at  Williston,  Vt. 

From  1852  to  May,  1855,  the  church  was  again  listening  to 
"candidates."  But  the  only  name  to  which  reference  is  made, 
that  I  can  ascertain,  is  to  a  Mr.  Bradley  of  Lee,  Mass.  The  church 
gave  him  a  call,  but  it  being  not  entirely  unanimous,  he  did  not 
accept. 

In  March,  1855,   a  unanimous  call   was  extended  to  the  Rev. 

*  Parson  Stone's  Sketches. 


140  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

"William  B.  Clarke,  of  New  Haven.  It  was  favorably  received, 
and  he  was  ordained  May  4th.  Mr.  Clarke  was  graduated  at  Yale, 
class  of  '49,  and  licensed  by  New  Haven  East,  in  1852.  As  had 
been  the  case  with  each  of  his  three  predecessors,  this  was  Mr. 
Clarke's  first  settlement.  He  remained  with  the  churcli  but  four 
years,  on  a  salary  of  seven  hundred  dollars. 

Mr.  Clarke  was,  in  private  character,  marked  by  purity,  refine- 
ment, and  the  union  of  true  courage  and  Pauline  "gentleness." 
In  manners  he  was  a  thorough  gentleman ;  in  pulpit  ministrations 
he  was  appropriate,  scholarly,  and  edifying,  while  in  the  special 
field  of  bibUcal  training  of  the  young  he  was  thorough  and 
inspiring. 

The  Church  Manual  was  revised  and  printed  under  his  supervis- 
ion, and  is  thorough  and  systematic.  While  some  corrections  are 
needed  in  the  historical  part,  the  roll  has  been  carefully  prepared. 

I  notice,  at  the  close  of  this  address,  several  errors  in  the  man- 
ual, which  please  see. 

In  the  winter  of  1855-6  another  gracious  revival  was  enjoyed, 
and  thirty-one  names  were  addded  to  the  roll,  all  but  three  on 
profession  of  faith.  Similar  to  the  revival  of  1 846,  this  liegan  with 
a  series  of  neighborhood  prayer-meetings. 

Mr.  Clarke  asked  for  his  dismission  in  1859,  in  order  to  enable 
him  to  carry  out  a  cherished  plan  of  European  travel.  It  was  left 
by  the  church  for  Consociation  to  decide,  while  no  formal  opposi- 
tion was  made  to  the  proposition.  Mr.  Clarke  was  unmarried  at 
the  time  of  his  dismissal. 

He  was  dismissed  May  18,  1859,  spent  two  years  in  Europe, 
and  on  his  return  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  church  in 
Yale  College.  After  three  years'  service  at  Yale,  he  went  to  the 
charge  of  the  Congregational  church,  Litchfield,  where  he  spent 
three  years  as  acting  pastor.  Mr.  Clarke  married  the  daughter 
of  Dr.  Arms,  of  Norwich  Town. 

Mr.  Clarke  was  succeeded  in  September  following  by  Rev. 
Charles  Wetherby,  a  graduate  of  Middlebury  College.  He  was 
ordained  September  29,  1859.  President  Labaree  of  the  college 
preached  the  sermon.     Mr.  Wetherby's  salary  was  .$800. 

Mr.  Wetherby  had  a  popular  pulpit-power  which  "  drew,"  an  en- 
thusiastic, fearless  spirit,  which  interested  an  audience.  He  had 
quick  sympathies,  ardent  impulses,  a  generous  nature.  He  made 
original  interpretations:  struck  out  new  lines  of  thought  vigorously. 
He  had  striking  analogies,  made  remarks  calculated  to  be  remem- 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  141 

bered:  drew  out  to  church  some  who  had  long  neglected  public 
worship.  He  had  a  versatile  and  ready  mind,  great  social  powers, 
quick  wit.  He  had  his  friends,  and  loved  them  on  the  principle, 
doubtless,  — 

"  The  friends  thou  hast  and  their  adoption  tried, 
Grapple  them  to  thy  soul  with  hoops  of  steel." 

His  traits  and  merits  were  positive,  his  tastes  pronounced,  his  con- 
victions prompt,  his  views  humanitarian,  and  closely  bordering 
on  what  is  known  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston  as  "  broad."  Like  all 
positive  characters,  Mr.  Wetherby  laid  himself  open  to  much 
criticism,  but  on  the  whole  his  ministry  was  acceptable  and  useful. 
A  sermon  dehvered  by  him  at  the  funeral  of  Captain  Allen  was 
published. 

The  winter  of  1860  witnessed  another  revival,  the  first  interest 
being  awakened  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  church  in  January. 
Forty-one  members  were  added  to  the  church  during  that  year. 
Twenty-one  joined  in  1865.  The  whole  number  of  additions  dur- 
ing the  six  years  and  eight  months  of  his  ministry,  is  seventy. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1866,  the  pastor  presented  his  resignation 
by  letter,  which  is  on  record.  He  was  earnestly  solicited  to  witli- 
draw  it,  but  could  not  think  it  his  duty  to  do  so,  and  was  cojise- 
quently  dismissed  June  13,  1866.  After  leaving  Cornwall,  Mr. 
W.  was  pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church  in  Winsted, 
and  thence  went  to  one  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  Nashua, 
N.  H. 

Interval  No.  5  in  the  history  of  this  church  was  of  one  year's 
duration. 

Rev.  Jesse  Brush  was  called  from  Vernon,  and  accepted;  was 
installed  June  20,  1867,  upon  a  salary  of  eleven  hundred  dollars 
and  the  use  of  the  parsonage.  Mr.  Brush  was  an  acceptable 
preacher,  a  man  of  character  and  cultivation,  and  a  thorough 
pastor. 

During  the  winter  of  1868,  commencing  with  the  Week  of 
Prayer,  a  revival  of  religious  feeling  was  manifested;  meetings 
were  increased,  well  attended,  and  fruitful;  but  not  to  that  degree 
which  was  desired.  The  work  of  bringing  those  interested  to  the 
point  of  consecration  was  committed,  under  the  Spirit,  to  the 
evangelist,  John  D.  Potter.  Respecting  Mr.  Potter's  work  here, 
there  is  not  entire  unanimity  of  view.  That  those  who  were 
awakened  through  his  efforts  and  added  to  the  church  have  "run 


142  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

well,"  and  "faithfully  endured,"  with  a  few  exceptions,  I  can  tes- 
tify. The  great  majority  of  those  who  were  received  in  July  of 
1868,  numbering  forty-two,  are  with  us  still,  and  following  the  Mas- 
ter. The  number  added  to  the  church  during  Mr.  Brush's  minis- 
try of  six  years  is  sixty-one.  Mr.  Brush  was  dismissed  to  accept 
of  a  call  to  Berhn,  June,  1873.     (See  Church  Records.) 

The  present  pastor,  Chas.  N.  Fitch,  is  a  graduate  of  Yale  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  class  of  "73;  licensed  by  N.  H.  West  Consociation, 
April  30,  1872;  ordained  by  Litchfield  North  Consociation,  May  12, 
1874;  settled  on  a  salary  of  $1,000  per  annum,  and  the  use  of  the 
parsonage. 

1.  To  recapitulate:  This  church  has  had  and  parted  with  six 
pastors,  whose  average  period  of  pastorate  has  been  nine  years  and 
one  month.  It  is  a  proper  cause  for  pride  that  you  "  have  never 
turned  away  a  minister."  It  has,  the  rather,  been  your  privilege 
to  become  a  training-school  for  taking  ministers  fresh  from  the 
seminary  and  preparing  them  for  "  wider  fields  of  usefulness." 

If  you  cannot  boast  of  having  had  the  lifelong  ministries  of 
each  successive  servant  of  Christ  in  the  gospel,  nor  can  point  out 
in  your  burial-place  on  yonder  hillside  the  grave  of  a  single  minis- 
ter *  whose  service  ended  among  you,  you  can  nevertheless  rejoice 
that  you  were  able  to  retain  the  affectionate  regard  and  warm 
commendation  of  every  pastor  released.  You  are  entitled  to  no 
slight  satisfaction  from  the  thought  that  your  sacrifice  has  in 
several  instances  been  richly  rewarded  by  the  increased  usefulness 
which  has  come  to  them  in  their  new  fields;  and  it  is  not  unnatural 
for  you  to  believe  that  some  have  been  disappointed  in  their 
endeavors  to  find  either  wider  fields  or  happier  ones  by  making  a 
change. 

2.  The  church  has  been  pastorless  fifteen  years  since  1805. 
For  forty  years,  since  its  establishment,  or  during  forty-one  per 
cent,  of  its  life,  it  has  had  to  depend  for  pulpit  instructions  upon 
either  stated  supplies,  or  evangelists,  or  "  deacons'  meetings." 

3.  The  many  revival  eras  to  which  you  can  look  back  with 
deep  gratitude  to  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church,  are  perhaps  the 
chief  features  of  your  religious  history. 

Being  "addicted"  to  revivals  has,  however,  one  drawback  if  it 
becomes  the  master-habit  of  a  church,  that  is,  it  will  be  likely  to 

*  The  first  wife  of  J.  L.  Mayuard  is  the  only  minister's  wife  buried  in  the 
churchyard. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  143 

overlook  the  need  of  training  in  christian  work  and  developing  in 
lyractical  righteousness,  those  confessedly  immature  "  plants  of  right- 
eousness "  whose  growth  has  been  started  by  hot-house  methods- 

There  have  been  since  1805  twelve  distinct  revival  eras,  from 
which  an  average  of  fortg  persons  to  each  revival  have  been  added 
to  the  church.* 

The  distinguished  capacities  for  work  and  noble  christian  char- 
acters developed  in  the  few  of  each  past  generation,  upon  whom  the 
church  burdens  have  rested,  may  well  lead  us  to  reflect  what  a 
symmetrical  and  uniformly  strong  church-life  might  have  been 
developed  had  the  work  been  judiciously  distributed:  "to  every 
man  his  work." 

4.  The  total  admissions  to  the  church  from  1780  to  1877  is 
seveti  hundred  and  four  7nemhers,  as  follows: 

The  first  nucleus, 13 

Before  Mr.  Hawes'  settlement,    -         -         -         -  35 

During  Mr.  Hawes'  pastorate,      .         -         -         -  62 

During  Mr.  Smith's  pastorate,     -         -         -         -  113 

During  Mr.  Maynard's  pastorate,         -         -         -  162 

During  Mr.  Clarke's  pastorate,    -         -         -         -  34 

During  Mr.  Wether  by 's  pastorate,       -         -         -  70 

During  Mr.  Brush's  pastorate,     -         -         -         -  61 

During  first  three  years  of  Mr.  Pitch's  pastorate,  69 

During  the  various  intervals,       ■         -         -         -  85 

Grand  total,     -         -         -         ■  -         -704 

The  hving  membership  of  the  church,  January  1st,  1876,  is 
one  hundred  and  eighty-one. 

5.  The  practical  benevolence  of  the  church  can  be  only  approx- 
imately estimated,  as  we  have  access  to  the  figures  for  only  the 
past  thirty  years: 

From  1847  to  1876,  inclusive,  the  church  collections 
amounted  to $6,330.44 

A  yearly  average  of  -         -         -         -     $211.00 

The  Ladies'  Benevolent  Society  has  raised  in  twenty- 
two  years     .------•-       1,303.33 

A  yearly  average  of  ...         -       $59.24 

Total, $7,633.77 


*  la  twelve  revivals  there  were  added  474  members. 


144  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

As  it  is  known  that  the  Ladies'  Society  lias  been  in  existence 
nearly  fifty  years,  if  we  allow  only  one-half  of  this  yearly  average 
for  the  twenty-eight  preceding  years,  we  will  still  have  a  total  of 
over  ttuo  thousand  dollars  to  be  accredited  to  the  benevolence  of 
the  faithful  women  of  the  church. 

If  a  like  estimate  of  the  benevolence  of  the  chui'ch  previous  to 
1847  be  made,  on  the  low  average  of  seventy-five  dollars  per  year, 
we  shall  find  that  the  amount  of  twelve  titoasand  dollars  would  not 
be  too  large  an  estimate  in  money  of  the  benevolent  contributions 
of  this  church  in  its  entire  history. 

6.  Thus  far  we  have  limited  our  review  to  the  narrow  home-field 
which  we  can  almost  compass  in  a  bird's-eye  view  from  the  steeple 
of  the  old  church.  But  manifestly  such  a  limitation  is  unfair,  as 
one  notable  feature  of  christian  work  in  a  country  church  in  New 
England  is  her  far  richer  gift  of  consecrated  sons  and  daughters 
to  the  attractive  cities  of  the  east  and  west  and  to  the  missionary 
fields  of  all  the  world.  For  while  this  august  sacrifice  yields  ulti- 
mately vast  harvests  of  good  in  both  the  home  church  and  the 
churches  that  receive  these  our  precious  gifts,  still  this  perpetual 
draft  upon  the  young  corps  of  the  old  Home  Guard  leaves  it  in 
crippled  condition  as  compared  with  growing  churches. 

The  country  church  thus  becomes  to  America  what  the 
"Cohen  Caph  El"  was  to  Egypt — a  "royal  seminary,  from  whence 
they  drafted  novices  to  supply  their  colleges  and  temples." 

In  the  fist  of  "ministers  raised  up,"  you  may  see  the  mission 
the  church  has  had  and  is  still  fulfilling  in  this  the  noblest  work  of 
the  ages. 

If  now  you  add  to  this  list  the  names  of  those  noble  women 
whom  she  has  given  as  "  helps  "  to  the  ministers,  "  meet "  to  be  their 
partners  in  the  work  of  winning  souls;  those  teachers  who  have 
had  leading  positions  in  the  great  work  of  moulding  the  minds 
and  characters  of  the  youth  of  the  land ;  those  christian  lawyers 
and  physicians  who  owe  a  good  part  of  their  religious  impressions 
to  their  spiritual  fathers  and  mothers  in  this  church ;  besides  the 
long  list  of  worthy  laymen  who  have  illustrated  the  nobility  of 
patriotism  in  times  of  war,  and  the  fidelity  of  christian  faith  in 
times  of  peace;  you  may  have  some  slight  conception  of  the  good 
that  has  been  done  in  the  fields  of  the  world,  through  what  may  be 
termed  the  missionary  work  of  this  ancient  church. 

If  I  may  give  expression,  in  a  few  words,  to  the  lessons  to  be 
learned  from  this  "inquiry  into  the  former  age,"  and  this  "search 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  145 

of  the  record  of  the  fathers,"  I  will  remind  you  that  as  christians 
we  should  estimate  the  church  hy  means  of  spiritual  standards. 

As  stewards  of  an  heavenly  Master,  our  supreme  desire  should 
be  to  do  our  work  so  as  to  merit  His  approval. 

When  Lord  Beaconsfield  was  asked  in  what  style  his  official 
residence  should  be  furnished  and  decorated,  he  replied,  pointing 
to  the  portrait  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  "Furnish  it  for  that 
portrait." 

So  would  I  point  you  to  day  to  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church, 
whose  image  not  merely,  but  whose  presence  is  with  us  and  whose 
eye  is  ever  upon  us,  and  ask  you  to  keep  always  in  mind  His 
standard,  both  in  judging  of  the  work  that  has  been  done  and  in 
planning  the  work  yet  to  be  done. 

"I  know,"  says  the  Master,  "thy  works,"  and  He  rejoices  more 
in  them,  be  assured,  than  men  are  able  to,  for  He  knows  amid 
what  trials  and  sacrifices  the  noble  history  of  the  past  has  been 
wrought  out.  "God  is  not  unrighteous,"  says  the  apostle,  "to 
forget  your  works  and  labors  of  love  that  ye  have  shewed  toward 
His  name." 

But  think  not  too  much  upon  the  past.  Think  reverently,  think 
charitably,  think  sensibly,  but  let  your  thoughts  of  the  past  be 
brief !  Look  back  just  long  enough  to  take  your  bearings,  and 
then  push  right  onward.  "  Be  watchful  and  strengthen  the  things 
that  remain,  for  I  have  not  found  thy  works  perfect." 

This  is  the  spiritual  standard; — perfect  trust,  perfect  consecration, 
perfect  work:  and  you  are  a  long  way  from  reaching  that  standard. 
Although  this  church  has  not  been  the  residence  of  ancient  Lydian 
kings,  she  has  an  honored  roll  of  "the  just  made  perfect."  "What 
are  we  doing  to-day  to  add  to  that  roll  ? 

While  you  cannot  boast  of  Cornwall  as  having  been  the  birth- 
place of  any  rich  Croesus,  your  homes  have  long  been  abodes  of 
comfort  and  signs  of  abundance.  Are  the  gifts  and  sacrifices  as 
abundant  as  the  Master  would  like  ?  Does  your  benevolence  yet 
bear  the  proper  ratio  to  your  abundance  ?  Apply  the  spiritual 
standard. 

Christ  does  not  ask  for  your  gold  to  gild  some  splendid  heathen 
god's  statue,  but  to  bear  to  living,  sinning,  suffering  neighbors  both 
sides  the  sea,  the  good  news  of  freedom  and  peace.  And  He  asks 
for  your  sons  and  daughters:  that  you  train  them,  some  for  the 
work  of  the  church  at  home,  some  for  the  august  sacrifice  upon  far 
off,  unknown  altars,  and  all  for  His  service,  so  loyally,  that  when 
19 


146  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

the  word  comes  to  any  one,  "  The  Master  is  come  and  calletli  for 
thee,"  he  shall  promptly  respond,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me !  " 

Therefore,  brethren,  let  us  one  and  all  "be  watchful  and 
strengthen  the  things  that  remain,"  for  we  know  not  but  that  they 
may  be  ready  to  die  even  while  we  are  rejoicing.  But  this  we 
know,  that  He  saith  (whose  praise  we  covet  more  than  the  praises 
of  all  men),  "I  have  not  found  thy  works  perfect." 

Addenda.  In  its  deacons  this  church  has  been  no  less  favored 
with  earnest  and  godly  men  than  in  its  pastors. 

The  Separates  at  first  had  for  deacons  Beriah  Hotchkin  and 
Phineas  Waller,  who  served  eighteen  years.  Respecting  either  of 
these  deacons,  all  that  is  known  of  them  now  is  that  Deacon  Waller 
was  the  first  deacon  of  the  First  Church ;  that  he  came  from  New 
Milford;  that  his  residence  was  on  the  north  side  of  Waller  Hill, 
where  Judson  Adams  now  lives;  and  that  they  served  until  1800. 
Their  successors  were  Jesse  Hyatt  and  Hezekiah  Clark.  Both 
these  brethren  were  serving  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Hawes'  ordination. 
A  short  time  previous  to  1807,  Deacon  Clark  died,  and  Deacon 
Hyatt  removed  to  Georgetown,  New  York. 

Mr.  Stone,  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  has  recorded  his  estimate 
of  Deacon  Hyatt  in  these  very  commendatory  words:  "He  was 
eminently  amiable  and  meek;  few  christians  have  lived  and  died 
having  fewer  enemies  than  had  Deacon  Hyatt.  He  was  never  a  close 
communionist  [sectarian  is  intended,  I  presume— c.  n.  f.],  but  was 
ever  glad  to  receive  every  one  that  loved  the  essential  doctrines  of 
the  cross." 

David  Clark  was  chosen,  April  10,  180*7,  to  succeed  his  deceased 
brother  as  deacon,  and  Eliakim  Mallory  was  chosen  Deacon  Hyatt's 
successor.  Deacon  Clark  served  but  four  years,  when  he  died,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Titus  Hart  in  1811. 

That  the  church  should  make  choice  of  two  deacons  from  the 
same  family  in  the  same  generation  is  clear  proof  of  the  worth 
and  piety  of  Hezekiah  and  David  Clark. 

Eliakim  Mallory  honored  the  office  of  deacon  eight  years,  and, 
for  his  faith  and  devotion  to  the  Church,  "  obtained  a  good  report." 
He  was  a  man  of  more  than  average  abihty.  He  was  a  frequent 
delegate  to  Consociation  in  that  day  when  the  choice  of  delegate 
was  quite  an  honor.  He  was  the  delegate,  with  the  pastor,  when 
this  church  was  admitted  to  that  body  in  1809.  He  frequently 
served  on  committees  of  conferences  between  the  two  churches, 
when  the  question  of  union  was  so  much  discussed.     Deacon  Mallory 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  147 

was  prominent  also  in  the  business  of  the  society.  A  man  of 
noble  spirit,  unexceptional  character,  and  decided  dignity  of  man- 
ner, his  death,  occurring  near  the  close  of  1815,  left  a  large  vacancy 
in  both  society  and  church. 

At  Deacon  Hart's  election,  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  ob- 
served, according  to  prevalent  custom.  It  is  said  of  Deacon  Hart, 
by  Mr.  Stone,  that  he  was  "an  Israelite  indeed,  ever  pious  and  stead- 
fast in  duty,  possessing  the  qualifications  which  Paul  required  of  a 
deacon."  At  his  death,  in  1830,  he  had  held  the  office  nearly 
twenty  years.  Titus  Hart  and  Jesse  Hyatt  are  the  only  deacons 
from  this  parish  who  received  notice  in  Stone's  History  of  Corn- 
wall* 

Nathan  Hart  was  chosen  deacon  in  1816,  and  retired  in  1854. 
His  term  of  office  is  the  longest  of  any  of  the  deacons,  embracing 
three  distinct  periods  in  the  history  of  the  church,  to  wit:  the 
ministry  of  Walter  Smith,  the  evangelical  labors  of  S.  J.  Tracy, 
and  the  entire  ministry  of  Joshua  Maynard, — a  period  of  thirty- 
nine  years.  He  was  chosen  while  his  father,  Dea.  Titus  Hart,  was 
living,  but  because  he  was  too  old  and  infirm  to  perform  the  office 
of  a  deacon,  and  too  much  beloved  to  be  asked  to  resign.  Deacon 
Nathan  Hart  had  high  regard  for  purity  and  consistency  of  chris- 
tian character,  "was  very  jealous  for  the  Lord  of  hosts,"  and  was 
very  faithful  in  labors  to  secure  righteousness  of  life  in  all  who 
professed  and  called  themselves  christians.  He  was  also  a  peace- 
maker. I  notice  in  the  C/hurch  Records  for  March  20,  1822,  that 
Deacons  Noah  Rogers  and  Nathan  Hart,  and  Ichabod  Howe,  were 
appointed  a  Standing  Committee  "to  settle  difficulties  between 
brethren."  Before  his  death  Deacon  Hart  joined  with  Deacon 
Wadsworth  in  gifts  to  the  church,  of  which  I  shall  speak  presently. 
At  his  death,  in  1861,  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  church  sixty- 
one  years,  for  nearly  two-thirds  of  which  time  he  had  been  deacon; 
and  he  was  for  many  years  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school. 
Of  his  many  excellent  qualities  none  were  more  marked  than  his 
def otional  spirit,  which  had  for  a  substantial  basis  good  sense  and 
integrity.  Deacon  Hart  was  "faithful  over  a  few  things,"  and 
has  doubtless  entered  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord. 

Noah  Rogers  was  chosen  deacon  in  1816.  In  a  church  which 
has  had  four  men  by  that  name  connected  with  it  this  would  not, 
at  least,  be  speaking  very  definitely.  But  the  Noah  chosen  deacon 
joined  the  church  about  1814,  and  is  known  to  this  community  as 

*  Parson  Stone's  History  was  not  brought  down  to  the  present  day. 


148  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

"Deacon  Noah."  His  place  in  the  genealogical  tree  is,  I  believe, 
Noah  4th.  Eespecting  the  worth  and  work  of  Deacon  Noah 
Eogers,  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  cite  the  testimony  of  the  late 
George  "Wheaton,  Esq.,  for  many  years  associated  with  him  in 
social  and  business  relations  of  hfe.  His  words  will  be  all  the 
more  weighty,  because  coming  from  one  not  at  that  time  a  profess- 
ing christian.  "  The  ardent  desire  of  Deacon  Rogers  was  ever  for 
the  prosperity  and  upbuilding  of  the  North  Congregational  Church. 
Through  his  influence,  and  the  material  aid  which  he  furnished, 
it  received  much  of  that  material  and  spiritual  aggressive  power 
which  has  brought  to  it  its  present  degree  of  prosperity.  He  was 
ever  kind  and  liberal  to  the  poor,  and  gave  freely  of  his  abundance. 
He  lived  a  christian  life,  and  died  the  death  of  the  righteous." 
From  the  records  of  both  church  and  society  it  is  clear  that  Deacon 
Rogers  served  this  church  with  a  fidelity  which  it  would  be  hard 
to  match,  and  impossible  to  excel,  in  the  long  list  of  her  worthy 
sons.  His  qualities  were  of  the  quiet  kind,  substantial  and  worthy. 
His  fitness  answered  to  Paul's  test,  in  that  he  was  "grave,"  "not 
double-tongued,"  "ruled  his  children  and  his  own  house  well," 
"ministered  in  the  office  of  a  deacon  well,"  and  "purchased  for 
himself  a  good  degree,"  both  as  respects  grace  of  character  and 
favor  among  men.  Deacon  Rogers  retired  in  1836,  three  years 
before  his  death,  having  served  twenty  years. 

His  successor  was  James  Wadsworth,  who  was  about  as  near  a 
"blameless  "  man,  doubtless,  as  men  become.  He  exemplified  his 
faith  by  "  walking  in  the  hght,"  and  seems  to  have  deserved  Paul's 
requirement  to  be  put  as  his  epitaph:  for  "  he  held  the  mystery  of 
the  faith  in  a  pure  conscience." 

A  few  months  before  the  retirement  of  the  two  venerable  dea- 
cons, Hart  and  Wadsworth,  they  each  made  a  valuable  gift  to  the 
church — Deacon  Hart  giving  this  Bible,  and  Deacon  Wadsworth 
that  service,  which  is  at  present  used  at  the  Communion  table. 
The  church  acknowledged  the  gifts  in  the  following  resolution: 

Besohed,  That  these  tokens  of  their  regard  for  us,  crowning,  as  they 
do,  many  years  of  active,  efficient,  and  successful  labor  in  this  church, 
entitle  the  givers  to  our  highest  respect  and  consideration,  and  in  all 
coming  years  they  shall  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance,  as  bright 
examples  of  Christianity,  as  taught  by  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ." 

R.  R.  and  E.  D.  Pratt  were  chosen  in  September,  1854,  to  be 
their  successors.  Deacon  Wadsworth  lived,  after  his  resignation, 
Tin  til  April,  1867. 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  149 

In  1872  both  active  deacons  tendered  their  resignation,  from  a 
conviction  that  the  good  of  the  church  required  that  the  deacon's 
term  of  office  be  hmited,  with  the  privilege  of  reelection  if  it 
seemed  best.  They  were  accordingly  succeeded  by  T.  S.  Gold  and 
Egbert  M.  Kogers,  in  1872,  who  were  chosen  for  the  term  of  five 
years. 

As  both  retired  deacons  are  still  present  with  us,  I  shall  pass  by 
their  service  at  this  time  without  encomium,  speaking  only  a  few 
words  respecting  Deacon  E.  M.  Rogers,  deceased  in  February  last. 
My  own  estimate  of  Deacon  Rogers's  character  is  incorporated  in 
the  resolutions  adopted  by  this  church  in  April  last: 

Whereas,  In  the  providence  of  God,  it  has  pleased  Him  to  remove,  by 
deatli,  brother  E.  M.  Rogers,  who  has  "  walked  with  this  church  faith- 
fully in  all  the  ordinances  of  the  Gosj^el "  for  thirty  years,  the  last  four 
years  of  which  time  he  filled  the  otfice  of  deacon ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  gives  us  jileasure  to  express  and  record  the  affection 
in  which  Deacon  Rogers  was  held  by  his  brethren  in  Christ,  for  the  devo- 
tion which  he  manifested  to  the  cause  of  the  Master,  making  himself  a 
servant  to  all,  that  he  might  "gain  the  more;"  and  becoming  a  cheerful 
"  burden-bearer,"  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  Christ ;  and  furthermore, 
that  we  believe  that  his  faith  and  good  works  were  a  "  light  upon  a 
hill "  to  lead  men  "  to  glorify  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 

Ministers  Raised  Up. 

John  C.  Hart,  oldest  son  of  Deacon  Nathan  Hart,  a  graduate  of 
Yale,  class  of  '31,  was  pastor  in  Springfield,  N.  J. ;  thence  to  church 
in  Western  Reserve  College,  Hudson,  Ohio;  thence  to  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Ravenna,  Ohio.  Death  in  1870  from  paralysis,  at 
Ravenna. 

Almon  B.  Pratt,  born  North  Cornwall  1812,  son  of  a  farmer,  and 
worked  with  his  father  until  nineteen  years  of  age,  then  began  to 
study  with  the  ministry  in  view.  Entered  Yale  College,  but  failing 
in  health,  withdrew.  Studied  theology  at  Union  Seminary,  New 
York  City;  licensed  by  Litchfield  North  Association  July  20,  1841 ; 
ordained  June  12,  1850,  by  Litchfield  North  Association,  at  "Wol- 
cottville.  Conn.;  acting  pastor  of  a  church  in  Genesee,  Genesee 
County,  Michigan,  several  years ;  treasurer  of  college  at  Berea,  Ky. ; 
thence  removed  to  Camp  Creek,  Neb.,  as  acting  pastor,  in  which 
capacity  he  died  December  28,  1875. 

Henry  G.  Pendleton  graduated  at  Amherst,  August,  1836; 
licensed  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  November,  1838,  by  Presbytery;  gradu- 
ated at  Lane  Seminary,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1839;  ordained  January, 
1840,  by  Peoria  Presbytery  at  Granville,  111.;  remained  at  Gran- 
ville four  years;  Lacon  one  year;  Henry,  Marshall  county,  twenty- 


150  HISTORY   OF   CORNWALL. 

five  years.  He  organized  a  Congregational  Church  in  Chenoa,  111., 
in  summer  of  1867,  and  was  acting  pastor  until  1872.  At  present 
he  is  acting  pastor  of  Congregational  church  at  Gridley  and  Chenoa; 
some  of  the  time  Mr.  Pendleton  has  suppKed  two  churches  "yoked." 
He  has  been  very  successful  in  gathering  churches  and  building 
meeting-houses.  The  hand  of  the  Lord  has  evidently  been  with 
him.    P.  0.  address,  Chenoa,  Livingston  Co.,  III. 

H.  F.  Wadsworth,  son  of  Dea.  James  Wadsworth,  graduated 
at  Union  College,  July,  1836;  was  hcensed  by  Litchfield  South 
Association,  July,  1838;  was  ordained  as  an  Evangelist,  in  the 
Tabernacle  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1842,  by  Manhattan  Asso- 
ciation. In  the  same  month  was  settled  as  pastor  over  the  Pres- 
byterian church  at  Newfoundland,  Morris  County,  N.  J.  He 
resigned  this  charge  November,  1858,  for  the  Presbyterian  church 
at  Unionville,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  installed  pastor 
the  following  May,  and  where  he  continues  to  labor  in  the  gospel. 

John  A.  R.  Rogers,  son  of  Jno.  C.  Rogers,  graduated  at  Oberlin 
College  1851;  from  the  theological  department  1855.  Holds  the 
chair  of  the  Greek  Professorship  in  Berea  College,  Ky. 

Samuel  Scoville,  son  of  Jacob  Scoville,  is  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College,  of  the  class  of  '57.  After  spending  one  year  in  theologi- 
cal study  at  Andover  Seminary,  he  took  an  extended  European 
tour.  Returned  to  his  theological  studies  at  Union  Seminary,  New 
York  City,  graduating  1861.  He  was  settled  as  pastor  over  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Norwich,  N.  Y.,  in  1862. 

John  Hart,  son  of  H.  Milton  Hart,  graduated  at  Yale,  class  of 
'67;  taught  in  public  schools  of  New  Haven  several  years; 
graduated  at  Union  Theological  Seminary  1876.* 

List  of  Ministers^  Wives  who  ivere  Daughters  of  the  Church. 

Eliza  W.  Rogers,  daughter  of  Dea.  Noah,  married  Rev.  A.  T. 
Norton. 

Amanda  Rogers,  her  sister,  married  Rev.  A.  B.  Pratt. 

Amelia  Rogers,  daughter  of  John  C,  married  Rev.  Mr.  Davis. 

Sarah  A.  Nettleton,  daughter  of  Dea.  Elijah,  of  Baptist  Church, 
married  Rev.  Mr.  Jencks,  Baptist. 

Clarissa  Clark,   daughter  of   Wm.,   married  Rev.   A.   Munson. 

Mary  Burnham,  daughter  of  Oliver,  married  Rev.  A.  Judson, 
Philadelphia. 

Emily  Burnham,  her  sister,  married  Rev.  J.  C.  Hart. 

*  Mr.  Hart  was  ordained  and  installed  over  Cong.  Church  in  Bristol,  N.  II., 
in  the  fall  of  1877. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  151 

List  of  prominent  Laymen  not  previously  mentioned  in  the  Sermon. 

Ichabod  Howe  will  be  remembered  as  a  man  of  Pauline  gentle- 
ness, and  Christlike  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  for  his  brothers'  good. 
To  a  life  of  rectitude  and  consecration  he  added  a  very  fitting 
closing  chapter,  by  giving  himself  almost  wholly  to  visitation  of 
the  parish  and  prayerful  lay-labors  for  the  conversion  of  men  to 
his  dear  Lord.     He  died  in  1857. 

A  man  of  more  marked  ability,  of  strict  integrity,  of  unim- 
peachable veracity,  and  of  wide-spread  influence  was  Benjamin 
Sedgwick,  Esq.  In  private  life  and  places  of  public  trust  he  was 
an  honorable  man  and  a  christian  gentleman. 

William  Clark  of  Clark  Hill,  was  a  self -depreciating  but  valua- 
ble citizen,  who  took  up  his  christian  crosses  late  in  life,  but  bore 
them  with  fidelity  to  the  close. 

Chalker  Pratt  you  remember  as  a  strong,  resolute,  self-reliant 
man,  ever  devising  liberal  things  for  the  cause  of  his  Master,  and 
energetic  in  carrying  them  through.  Born  on  Cream  Hill,  he 
moved  to  West  Cornwall,  at  the  time  of  the  building  of  the  railroad ; 
was  identified  with  the  interests  of  the  place;  was  an  able  and 
zealous  laborer  in  his  Master's  vineyard,  as  well  as  an  earnest  and 
honorable  citizen. 

Noah  Baldwin  was  for  fifty-five  years  connected  with  the  choir, 
and  by  his  faithfulness  to  his  post,  his  love  of  music,  and  his  regu- 
larity, did  what  he  could  for  the  service  of  Christ;  keeping  his 
place  even  after  old  age  had  made  his  service  as  an  effort. 

Reuben  Hitchcock  was  a  regular  and  conscientious  attendant 
upon  public  services,  and  a  supporter  of  the  prayer  meetings. 

There  are  many  that  will  remember  the  commander  of  the  regi- 
ment of  militia,  Col.  Anson  Rogers.  In  stature  tall,  athletic;  in 
nature  cordial,  genial,  sympathetic ;  in  character  benevolent  to  a 
fault;  his  liberality  was  proverbial,  and  proceeded  not  from  the 
love  of  display,  but  a  natural  susceptibility  to  the  appeals  of  the 
needy,  and  from  an  instinctive  desire  to  do  a  good  and  generous 
action. 

Col.  Rogers  was  also  a  christian  soldier.  As  he  was  at  the  head 
of  his  regiment  on  public  parade,  so  his  name  stands  first  on  the 
list  of  those  recruited  for  the  Master  in  1839,  by  Mr.  Tracy.  And 
he  was  behind  none  of  his  fellow  citizens  in  interest  in  the  pros- 
perity and  perpetuity  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  no  less  than  in 
his  public  spirit.  Of  his  prominence  in  town  matters,  and  the 
acceptable  administration  of  his  public  trusts,  poHtically,  honorable 


152  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

mention  should  be  made  here,  and  the  record  in  detail  will  be  found 
elsewhere. 

Daniel  Leete  Rogers,  Noah  Rogers,  and  John  C.  Rogers  are 
worthy  descendants  of  an  honored  sire,  who  hand  down  the 
precious  legacy  untarnished  and  undiminished  of  solid  christian 
character.  They  have  stood  manfully  "  holding  the  fort "  for 
Christ,  here  where  their  father  helped  to  plant  it. 

They  were  men  to  he  relied  upon  for  sound  judgment  and  with 
abundant  means,  and  while  exact  and  punctual  in  their  business 
transactions,  they  were  generous  to  the  poor,  liberal  toward  the 
church,  and  invariably  found  on  the  right  side  of  questions  of 
general  interest  in  church  or  state. 

The  devotion  of  these  men  and  their  children  to  christian  prin- 
ciples and  christian  liberty,  when  considered  in  connection  with 
their  boast  that  they  were  "  descendants  of  the  John  Rogers  of 
Smithfield  fame,"  furnishes  a  new  illustration  of  the  faithfulness 
of  God  in  "showing  mercy  unto  the  thousandth  generation  of 
them  that  love  me  and  keep  my  commandments." 

(jreo.  Wheaton,  Esq.,  was  a  lawyer  of  prominence  in  "West  Corn- 
wall, who  declared  at  last  that  he  was  "  not  ashamed  of  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ."  Entering  the  church  during  Mr.  Maynard's  ministry, 
he  ever  afterward  interested  himself  in  the  material  interests  of 
church  and  society. 

Dr.  Samuel  W.  Gold,  whose  residence  was  on  Cream  Hill,  until 
his  removal  to  West  Cornwall,  near  the  close  of  his  life  was  a  man 
of  wise  counsel,  great  energy,  and  remarkable  public  spirit. 

He  offered  to  donate  $1,000  toward  building  a  chapel  for  the 
use  of  the  citizens  of  West  Cornwall,  but  did  not  live  to  see  the 
project  begun.  Mr.  Gold  gave  liberally  of  his  abundance  for  the 
support  of  the  gospel,  and  had  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
his  town  and  country.  He  had  in  mind  the  publication  of  the 
history  of  Cornwall,  which  he  did  not  live  to  carry  out,  but  which 
is  likely  to  be  completed  by  his  son,  Theodore  S.  Gold. 

H.  Milton  Hart  was  a  man  who  was  to  the  minister  as  Asaph  to 
David,  in  the  service  of  song  in  the  sanctuary.  He  filled  besides, 
with  ability  and  christian  fidelity,  every  position  of  trust  in  church 
and  society  to  which  he  was  appointed;  was  a  man  beloved  for 
his  graces  of  character,  and  esteemed  for  his  cultivation  of  mind, 
by  a  wide  circle  of  friends.  His  interest  in  the  musical  training 
of  the  young  was  a  prominent  characteristic. 

Stephen  Foster  was  one  of  the  promising  men  of  the  church  of 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  153 

the  last  generation,  and  one  whose  death  occurring  in  the  very- 
prime  of  life  was  deeply  deplored. 

He  was  already  ''proving  his  lance"  in  his  defense  of  the  right, 
and  showing  his  zeal  in  the  service  of  his  Master,  when  cut  down 
by  death.  He  was  calculated  by  his  enthusiasm,  executive  and 
financial  ability,  no  less  than  by  his  eminent  social  traits,  to  be  of 
great  usefulness  in  this  community.  His  work  may  have  been 
finished,  in  the  ^timation  of  God,  but  from  the  human  standpoint, 
it  hardly  seemed  more  than  just  begun.* 


A  Semi-Centennial 


Celebration  of  the  erection  of  the  church  at  North  Cornwall  was  held 
July  19,  1876. 

The  morning  exercises  consisted  of  singing  by  the  choir;  reading 
the  scriptures  and  prayer  by  the  pastor,  Rev.  C.  N.  Fitch;  an  his- 
torical address,  "Ye  Olden  Time,"  by  Gen.  Chas.  F.  Sedgwick,  of 
Sharon ;  music,  by  the  band ;  sketch  of  the  erection  of  the  church 
edifice  by  Nathan  Hart;  an  address  by  Rev.  Samuel  Scoville  of 
Norwich,  N.  Y. ;  a  poem  by  Dwight  M.  Pratt,  of  Cornwall,  and 
singing  an  anniversary  hymn  written  by  Mrs.  C  E.  Baldwin. 

The  afternoon  exercises  in  the  grove  were  refreshments,  exhibi- 
tion of  relics,  reminiscences  of  the  olden  time,  in  short,  regular 
and  volunteer  sentiments  and  addresses,  interspersed  with  vocal 
and  instrumental  music.  The  affair  was  a  success,  affording  both 
instruction  and  entertainment. 

HISTORICAL  ADDRESS  OF  GEN.  CHARLES   F.    SEDGWICK  AT 
NORTH  CORNWALL,  JULY  19,  1876. 

Several  weeks  since  I  was  requested  to  write  up  some  sketches  of 
incidents  and  events  illustrating  the  history  of  this  ecclesiastical 
society.  Without  thinking  much  on  the  extent  of  my  knowledge  of 
such  incidents,  I  consented  to  do  so,  but  I  soon  found  that  any 
certain  degree  of  reliable  accuracy  in  many  things  pertaining  to 
the  history  of  the  parish  were  not  within  the  reach  of  my  investi- 
gations. There  are  many  things  which  rest  in  dim  and  unreliable 
tradition,  which  can  only  be  illustrated  by  a  thorough  and  careful 
examination  of  the  records  of  the  State,  of  the  town,  and  of  the 

*  In  these  biographical  sketches  I  have  limited  myself  to  the  deceased,  not 
thinking  it  wise  to  attempt  an  estimate  of  the  work  of  any  one  while  he  is  still 
with  us,  or,  at  least,  yet  living. 
20 


154  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

parisTi.  And  such  examination  I  have  had  no  opportunity  to 
make.  I  shall  give  you  as  good  a  statement  of  facts  relating  to 
the  history  of  the  society  as  the  materials  at  my  command  will 
furnish,  not  holding  myself  responsible  for  the  uncertainties  of 
tradition,  or  the  barrenness  of  documentary  proofs.  To  illustrate 
more  fully  the  history  of  the  parish,  it  will  be  necessary  to  con- 
sider briefly  the  early  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  town  previous 
to  1738.  This  northwestern  corner  of  Connecticut  had  been 
surveyed  and  laid  out  into  townships  and  sold  to  proprietors. 
This  territory  embraced  the  townships  of  Salisbury,  Sharon,  Kent, 
Cornwall,  Canaan,  and  Goshen,  and  the  settlement  of  each  of  those 
townships  commenced  about  that  time — Kent  then  included  War- 
ren, and  Canaan  included  North  Canaan,  but  with  these  exceptions 
the  integrity  of  the  territory  of  each  township  has  not  been  dis- 
turbed. The  acts  of  the  legislature  incorporating  each  township, 
vested  both  municipal  and  ecclesiastical  power  in  the  inhabitants, 
and  made  it  as  much  their  duty  to  provide  for  the  establishment 
of  the  one  polity  as  of  the  other.  It  was  as  much  their  duty  to  pro- 
vide for  the  early  settlement  of  the  gospel  ministry  of  the  order  and 
faith  then  recognized  as  the  standing  order  in  the  colony,  as  it  was  to 
provide  for  the  support  of  the  poor  or  the  maintenance  of  high- 
ways. And  to  help  the  towns  thus  organized  to  carry  out  the 
purposes  of  the  legislature  in  providing  for  the  establishment  of 
gospel  ordinances,  grants  of  land  were  made;  one  right  to  the 
first  minister,  and  one  right  in  perpetuity  to  the  town  for  the 
support  of  the  ministry  for  ever. 

Some  of  the  towns  have  since  been  subdivided  into  located 
parishes,  but  with  the  exception  of  a  small  portion  in  the  south- 
west part  of  the  town,  which  many  years  since  was  annexed  to  the 
ecclesiastical  organization  of  Kent,  and  a  larger  portion  on  the 
Great  Hill,  which  now  forms  a  part  of  the  Society  of  Milton, 
Cornwall  remained  one  parish  until  the  incorporation  of  this 
society  in  1804. 

Cornwall  was  not  backward  in  fulfilling  the  purpose  of  the 
Assembly  in  regard  to  the  settlement  of  a  minister.  The  Rev. 
Solomon  Palmer  was  the  successful  candidate  for* the  place,  and 
he  was  settled  over  the  town  as  its  religious  teacher  in  August, 
1741.  He  was  a  native  of  Branford,  in  New  Haven  County,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1729.  Previous  to  his  settlement  in 
Cornwall  he  had  been  settled  over  a  Congregational  parish  on  Long 
Island.  He  continued  in  the  ministry  here  about  thirteen  years. 
I  know  of  nothing  to  distinguish  his  ministry  from  that  of  other 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  155 

clergymen  of  that  day  in  this  region.  Religious  interests  were  not 
neglected.  A  spacious  meeting  house  was  erected,  which  stood  on 
the  high  ground  nearly  opposite  the  residence  of  the  late  Ithamar 
Baldwin,  with  a  broad  and  extensive  green,  opening  to  the  south, 
before  it.  Mr.  Palmer's  residence  was  on  the  spot  afterwards 
owned  and  occupied  by  the  late  Judge  Burnham,  and  there  several 
of  his  children  were  born.  My  friend,  Mr.  Solon  B.  Johnson,  in  a 
sketch  which  he  gave  me  several  years  ago  of  the  Johnson  family 
in  Cornwall,  in  speaking  incidentally  of  Mr.  Palmer's  family,  with 
which  the  Johnson  family  was  connected,  informed  me  that  Mr. 
Palmer's  only  son  was  a  sot — I  could  have  added  to  the  stock  of 
Mr.  Johnson's  information  on  the  subject,  by  the  statement,  that 
when  I  went  to  reside  in  Sharon,  fifty-nine  years  ago,  that  son  of 
Mr.  Palmer's  was  an  inmate  of  the  poor-house  there,  where  he  con- 
tinued during  his  life,  and  that  his  remains,  after  his  death,  were 
buried  at  the  expense  of  that  town.  I  never  knew  how  he  became 
chargeable  to  Sharon,  but  the  fact  as  to  his  residence  and  depend- 
ence there  is  as  I  have  stated  it. 

I  never  heard  but  that  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Palmer  was  entirely 
acceptable  to  the  people  of  his  charge.  His  subsequent  career 
would  intimate  that  he  was  not  deficient  in  intellectual  ability,  and 
old  people  who,  in  my  early  yeai's,  spoke  of  him,  never  intimated 
any  defect  of  moral  qualifications.  In  March,  1754,  to  the  great 
surprise  of  his  people,  he  announced  from  the  pulpit  that  he  had 
become  an  Episcopalian  in  sentiment.  His  ministry  in  Cornwall 
ceased  from  that  time,  but  after  going  to  England  and  receiving 
Episcopal  ordination  there,  he  returned  to  this  country  and  entered 
upon  clerical  duties  in  congregations  of  that  faith.  He  ministered 
successively  at  Great  Barrington,  New  Haven,  and  Litchfield, 
at  which  last  mentioned  place  he  died  in  1771,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-two  years.  I  never  heard  that  any  of  his  people  here 
followed  him  into  the  Episcopal  church,  or  that  his'  defection  in  any 
degree  impaired  the  stability  of  the  ecclesiastical  organization  here. 
He  sold  his  place  here,  which  came  to  liim  from  the  gift  of  the 
colony  by  virtue  of  his  being  the  first  minister,  in  1757,  to  Noah 
Bull  of  Parmington,  and  thus  compelled  the  town  to  assume 
additional  burdens  in  the  support  of  the  gospel  ministry  there- 
after. 

The  next  minister  of  Cornwall  was  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold. 
His  father,  of  the  same  naitie,  was  the  minister  of  Stratford,  and 
his   grandfather  was   the    Hon.   Nathan    Gold,    for   many   years 


156  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

chief-justice   of   the    supreme   court,   and   lieutenant-governor   of 
the  colony. 

Mr.  Gold  was  in  comfortable  pecuniary  circumstances  when  he 
came  here,  having  received  an  ample  patrimony  from  his  father  or 
grandfather,  and  he  purchased  the  farm  which  was  afterwards 
owned  by  Mr.  Darius  Miner,  which  was  near  the  meeting  house, 
and  which  was  eVery  way  convenient  for  a  parsonage.  There  he 
lived,  and  there  he  died,  after  a  ministry  of  about  thirty-five  years. 
I  believe  that  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  ministry  were  acceptable 
to  the  town,  but  the  exciting  times  of  the  opening  scenes  of  the 
Revolution,  and  the  opinion  which  some  of  the  people  entertained, 
probably  unjustly,  that  their  minister  was  not  quite  as  fervent  in  his 
patriotisin  as  in  his  purpose  to  increase  his  worldly  estate,  produced 
complaint — not  very  loud  at  first,  but  which  finally  ripened  into 
an  open  opposition,  which  in  the  end  included  a  majority  of  the 
legal  voters  of  the  town.  Through  the  whole  conflict  a  decided 
majority  of  the  church  stood  by  the  pastor,  and  the  influence 
of  his  clerical  brethren  in  neighboring  towns  sustained  him. 
The  laws  of  the  colony,  too,  strongly  favored  the  stability  of  the 
clerical  relations  in  the  town,  and  appeals  to  the  courts,  which  in 
this  case  were  made,  furnished  no  aid  to  the  discontented  portion 
of  the  people.  At  length  the  town,  claiming  that  it,  and  not  the 
church,  owned  the  meeting-house,  voted  to  exclude  Mr.  Gold  from 
it  in  the  performance  of  Sabbath  services,  and  in  his  absence  it 
became  the  duty  of  the  deacons  to  conduct  the  ceremonies  of  public 
worship.  When  the  trial  came  to  test  the  right  of  the  contending 
parties  to  the  meeting-house  for  Sabbath  worship,  a  scene  occurred 
which  would  now  be  deemed  a  disgrace  to  the  civilization  of  the 
times,  reminding  one  of  the  times  spoken  of  by  the  old  English 
humorist,  Hudibras: 

When  civil  dudgeon  first  grew  high, 
And  men  fell  out,  they  knew  not  why  ; 
When  hard  words,  jealousies,  and  fears 
Set  men  together  by  the  ears  ; 
When  pulpit  dean-ecclesiastic 
Was  beat  with  j^s^  instead  of  a  stick. 

I  heard  a  statement  of  it  given  to  my  father,  probably  more  than 
seventy  years  ago,  by  an  aged  widow  lady.  It  may  be  interesting 
to  my  friend,  Deacon  Russell  R.  Pratt,  if  I  state  that  she  was  Mrs. 
Brown,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Jasper  Pratt,-  who  was  his  grandmother. 
The  deacon  who  intended  to  conduct  the  proceedings  was  Elijah 
Steele,  one  of  the  opposers  of  Mr.  Gold.     From  the  statement  of 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  157 

Mrs.  Brown,  it  would  appear  that  Mr.  Gold  had  taken  his  seat  in 
the  pulpit  to  conduct  the  exercises  of  worship  in  the  usual  manner, 
and  that  Deacon  Steele,  in  his  seat  below,  by  whom  Mrs.  Brown 
was  sitting,  was  preparing  his  book  to  give  out  the  opening  psalm. 
Said  she,  "  Just  as  Steele  was  about  beginning  to  read  the  psalm,  I 
laid  my  fan  right  down  on  to  Steele's  book,  and  thus  gave  Mr. 
Gold  an  opportunity  to  start  first  in  the  race."  The  common-sense 
of  sober-minded  people  must  have  revolted  at  such  unhallowed 
proceedings,  and  the  result  was,  that  the  dissenters  of  the  congre- 
gation, in  1780,  formed  themselves  into  a  separate  society,  which 
they  called  a  society  of  Strict  Congregationalists,  and  the  dissent- 
ing members  of  the  church  formed  themselves  into  a  separate 
church,  to  act  with  the  society  in  cases  where  their  joint  action 
might  be  necessary.  I  can  find  no  law  of  the  State  which  then 
Justified  these  proceedings,  but  in  1791  an  act  was  passed  which 
seemed  to  recognize  the  legal  status  of  such  voluntary  religious 
associations  and  churches,  and  which  provided  that  all  such 
churches  and  congregations  which  shall,  or  shall  have,  formed 
themselves,  and  maintain  public  worship,  were  vested  with  power 
to  levy  taxes  on  the  members.  By  virtue  of  this  law,  the  Strict 
Congregationalists  of  Cornwall  laid  taxes  on  their  members,  and 
thus,  for  several  years,  supported  preaching  in  their  meetings  ;  but 
the  church  thus  formed  had  no  connection  or  association  with  any 
other  ecclesiastical  body.  It  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  that  this 
society  was  abandoned  and  dissolved  when  that  now  subsisting 
here  was  organized,  and  that  the  church,  then  independent,  finally 
fell  into  sympathy  with  the  Christian  churches  of  like  faith,  and 
co-operated  with  them  in  religious  duty  and  action. 

The  meetings  of  the  Strict  Congregationalists  were  held  at  the 
house  of  their  minister,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cornwall,  the  house  lately 
owned  and  occupied  by  the  late  Mr.  Carrington  Todd;  but  in  1788 
the  meeting-house,  which  stood  on  the  ground  now  occupied  by 
the  Center  school -house,  was  built  by  subscription.  Some  of  the 
subscribers  for  its  building  were  living  when  the  present  place  of 
public  worship  was  established  in  the  society,  and  some  of  them 
claimed  that  they  were  still  owners  of  the  building. 

The  old  society  maintained  their  ownership  of  the  old  meeting- 
house, and  1  suppose  held  their  meetings  there  until  1790,  when  it 
was  taken  down,  and  a  new  and  fashionable  house  of  worship  was 
erected  on  the  plain.  Mr.  Gold  continued  his  relation  as  pastor  of 
the  church  till  his  death,  but  he  gave  up  his  claim  for  salary,  and 
remitted  pastoral  labor  some  three  or  four  years  before  his  decease, 


158  HISTORY   OP   CORNWALL. 

wMcli  occurred  in  1790,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years.  It  would 
seem  tliat  in  1787  the  asperities  of  the  conflicting  parties  were 
somewhat  abated,  for  in  the  fall  session  of  the  legislature  of  that 
year,  both  ministers,  Mr.  Gold  and  Mr.  Cornwall,  were  elected  rep- 
resentatives from  the  town,  and  Mr.  Cornwall  was  a  member  at  the 
next  session.  Mr.  Gold  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  uncommon 
shrewdness  and  vigor  of  action,  as  is  shown  by  his  being  able  to 
baffle  all  the  efforts  of  his  opposers  to  remove  him  from  his  pas- 
torate of  Cornwall.  I  remember  reading  his  epitaph  many  years 
ago,  in  which  there  is  the  expressive  statement  of  one  element  in 
his  character:  that  he  was  a  very  accurate  judge  of  the  human 
heart. 

Mr.  Gold  was  succeeded  in  his  ministry  by  the  Eev.  Hercules 
Weston.  He  remained  the  minister  of  the  old  parish  from  1792 
to  1803.  I  never  saw  him,  but  well  remember  that  he  was  noted 
for  his  keen  specimens  of  polished  wit,  which  were  often  related 
in  social  gatherings.  He  had  a  parishioner,  Rufus  Paine,  senior, 
whose  wit,  though  of  a  coarser  kind,  was  equally  pungent  and 
effective,  and  they  sometimes  had  passages  of  intellectual  sharp- 
ness with  each  other.  As  this  is  a  purely  secular  meeting,  it  may 
not  be  improper  that  I  should  give  a  specimen. 

They  were  the  joint  owners  of  a  slaughtered  animal,  and  in 
dividing  to  each  owner  his  share,  they  had  no  difficulty  until  they 
came  to  the  division  of  the  head.  Each  asked  the  other  to  propose 
a  method  of  division.  After  due  deliberation  Mr.  Weston  said, 
"  It  is  an  old  saying  that  each  part  strengthens  ^V5part.  I  preach; 
you  give  me  the  tongue  and  you  may  have  the  remainder."  Said 
Paine  in  reply,  "  According  to  your  rule,  that  each  part  strength- 
ens its  part,  I  think  you  need  the  whole  head.     Take  it  all." 

The  Strict  Congregationalists  maintained  their  standing  under 
their  original  self-constituted  organization  for  nearly  twenty-five 
years.  In  one  sense  they  were  isolated  from  the  neighboring  par- 
ishes, being,  as  I  believe,  the  only  society  organized  on  that  platform 
on  this  side  of  the  Connecticut  River.  They  received  no  sympathy 
from  neighboring  parishes,  and  were  merely  tolerated,  not  encour- 
aged, by  the  laws  of  the  State.  The  South  Society  had  the  advan- 
tage in  this  respect,  that  every  new-comer  into  the  town  was,  by 
law,  a  member  of  that  society,  as  the  legal  society,  whose  limits 
embraced  the  whole  town,  and  could  not  be  relieved  from  his  con- 
nection there  without  going  through  with  the  legal  ceremonies 
which  the  law  provided  for  such  cases.  Their  ministers,  Mr.  Corn- 
wall, and  after  him  Mr.  llolley,  though  on  personal  friendly  terms 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  159 

with  the  neighboring  ministers  of  the  standing  order,  were  excluded 
from  all  ecclesiastical  relations  to  them,  and  were  shutout  from  all 
their  official  gatherings.  Still  the  parish  maintained  itself  with  a 
considerable  degree  of  vigor  down  to  1804.  I  have  been  shown  a  tax- 
list  laid  on  the  last  of  1795,  and  signed  by  Daniel  Harrison,  Oliver 
Burnham,  and  David  Clark,  committee,  to  which  is  annexed  a  tax 
warrant  in  due  form,  signed  by  Judah  Kellogg,  Esq.,  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  directed  to  Hezekiah  Gold,  collector.  There  were  about 
one  hundred  tax-payers  assessed  on  the  list  at  different  sums,  none 
very  heavily,  and  nearly  every  name  is  mentioned  as  paid  or  abated. 
It  embraced  nearly  all  the  persons  liable  to  pay  taxes  in  the  east  part 
of  the  town,  where  the  Johnsons  were  thickly  planted,  all  on  Clark 
Hill,  and  some,  Mathew  Patterson,  for  instance,  who  lived  far 
within  the  limits  of  the  South  Society.  It  was  a  seemingly  tedious 
process  to  collect  it,  for  seven  years  after  the  tax  was  laid  I  find 
the  following  entry  on  the  tax-book  in  the  handwriting  of  Judge 
Burnham : 

On  the  7th  day  of  September,  1803,  on  view  of  the  foregoing  bill,  we 
are  of  opinion  that  all  that  is  now  due  on  this  bill,  after  the  orders  are 
severally  brought  in  for  that  is  chargeable,  ought  to  be  abated,  and  there- 
fore do  abate  the  same. 

ELIAKIM    MALLORY,  }  ^ 
TITUS  hart;  \  Committee. 

The  difficulty  of  conducting  efficiently  the  affairs  of  the  parish, 
owing  to  their  ecclesiastical  exclusion  and  the  advantages  which 
the  law  gave  the  other  society,  in  the  acquisition  of  new  members, 
instigated  a  movement  in  1804  for  the  legal  establishment  of  a  new 
society  with  definite  boundaries,  and  for  the  granting  to  it  all  the 
privileges  enjoyed  by  other  societies  in  the  State,  the  old  organiza- 
tion as  Strict  Congregationalists  to  be  for  ever  abandoned.  A  peti- 
tion to  this  effect  was  presented  to  the  October  session  of  the 
Assembly  for  that  year,  and  a  desperate  struggle  with  the  old 
society  was  a  natural  result  of  such  proceedings.  The  exciting 
incidents  which  accompanied  them  are  just  within  the  reach  of  my 
recollection.  The  word  locate  and  location  1  remember  to  have  been 
in  very  common  use,  and  it  was  a  considerable  time  after  all  the  pro- 
ceedings before  the  Assembly  were  brought  to  a  close,  before  the 
use  of  these  words,  as  bearing  on  the  condition  of  the  society,  was 
given  up.  The  petition  for  the  location  of  a  new  parish  probably 
contained  a  prayer  for  aid  in  some  other  way  if  that  relief  of 
location  could  not  be  afforded,  and  under  that  clause  of  the  peti- 
tion the  Assembly  passed  a  resolution  in  the  words  following, 
which  I  copy  verbatim  from  the  records  of  the  State: 


160  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

"  Resolve  incorporating  the  Second  Ecclesiastical  Society  in  Cornwall^  passed 
'  OctoUr,  1804. 

"Upon  the  petition  of  Noah  Rogers,  and  others,  Resolved  by  this 
Assembly,  that  such  of  the  petitioners  and  others,  inhabitants  of  town 
of  Cornwall,  residing  within  the  limits  of  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society 
in  Cornwall,  as  shall,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  December  enrol  them- 
selves as  hereinafter  directed,  shall  be  and  constitute  an  ecclesiastical 
society  by  the  name  of  the  Second  Ecclesiastical  Society  in  Cornwall ; 
and  Noah  Rogers  J%  of  said  town  is  hereby  appointed  to  enrol  the 
names  of  all  such  persons  as  shall  by  said  day  elect  to  be  enrolled  as 
aforesaid ;  and  after  such  enrollment  the  inhabitants  so  enrolled  may 
proceed  to  form  themselves,  and  choose  officers  in  the  same  manner  as  is 
by  law  provided  for  societies  in  such  cases,  and  the  persons  who  shall  not  be 
enrolled  as  aforesaid  by  the  time  aforesaid,  shall  be  and  remain  members 
of  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society  in  said  Cornwall." 

Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  the  petition  for  a  located  society  was 
negatived,  but  permission  was  given  to  form  what  is  called  in  law 
a  iwll-parish  to  act  in  sympathy  with  other  parishes  of  the  same 
faith.  Although  there  was  a  great  disappomtment  in  the  result  of 
the  application  to  the  Assembly,  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  accept 
it,  and  the  society  was  duly  formed  under  the  Act  of  the  Assembly, 
and  the  Article  I  have  just  read  is  the  charter  of  your  society.  I 
do  not  know  who,  or  how  many,  were  members  under  the  first 
enrolttient,  nor  was  it  important,  as,  after  a  society  was  formed,  the 
law  made  ample  provision  for  the  accession  of  new  members.  Thus 
while  the  society  had  been  in  existence  since  1780,  it  was  not  until 
this  time  that  it  came  under  the  privileges  and  Kmitations  of 
statute  law,  for  such  cases  made  and  provided. 

The  society  being  thus  organized,  the  way  was  prepared  for  the 
church,  which  was  formed  under  an  old  Strict  Congregational  organ- 
ization, to  connect  itself  with  the  new  society,  according  to  the  forms 
and  usages  of  Congregational  churches  in  Connecticut.  It  had 
existed  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  a  kind  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal isolation,  holding  no  religious  communion  with  the  established 
churches  in  the  neighborhood.  Tired  of  this  seclusion,  it  for  a 
short  time  connected  itself  with  a  distant  organization  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  the  late  Deacon  Nathan  Hart  informed 
me  that  he  once  went  as  delegate  from  the  church  here  to  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Presbytery  to  which  it  belonged,  which  was  that  of 
Morristown,  New  Jersey.  It  was  a  most  unnatural  and  inconven- 
ient union,  and  Providence  kindly  opened  a  way  for  its  speedy 
dissolution. 

After  the  new  society  was  placed  in  successful  operation  here, 
the  North  Consociation  of  Litchfield  County,  without  waiting  for 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  161 

any  action  of  this  church,  extended  to  it  a  kind  and  fraternal  invi- 
tation to  unite  itself  in  Christian  relations  to  that  body,  and  tlie 
union  was  at  once  consummated,  and  I  doubt  not  that  all  parties 
concerned  felt  relieved  from  a  most  untoward  perplexity.  The 
society  and  church  were  thus  placed  in  a  good  condition  to  pros- 
ecute religious  enterprises,  and  well  have  they  performed  that 
duty. 

The  old  meeting-house  by  the  turnpike  was  the  place  of  wor- 
ship for  the  new  society  for  about  twenty  years.  It  was  an  old 
brown  building,  open  from  the  ground  floor  to  the  ridge,  with 
rafters,  beams,  braces,  and  roof -boards  in  plain  view,  but  it  shel- 
tered many  sincere  and  pious  worshipers.  Long  seats  extended 
from  the  aisle  in  the  center  to  the  walls,  but  nearer  the  pulpit  the 
seats  faced  towards  the  center.  The  males  were  all  seated  on  the 
right  of  the  pulpit  and  the  females  on  the  left,  and  this  arrange- 
ment was  continued  while  I  remained  in  Cornwall;  but  I  was  told 
there  was  some  change  in  it  before  the  old  house  was  abandoned, 
Mr.  Hawes  and  Mr.  Smith  were  both  ordained  there.  I  attended 
the  ordination  of  Mr.  Smith,  and  the  late  Mr.  James  Wadsworth 
informed  me,  many  years  after,  of  a  circumstance  which  I  had 
forgotten,  and  which  I  still  very  dimly  remember,  that  the  beauti- 
ful hymn  composed  by  Helen  Maria  Williams,  commencing 

"  Whilst  thee  I  seek,  protecting  power," 

was  sung  at  my  suggestion,  as  a  part  of  the  ordination  services, 
from  manuscript  copies  in  the  hands  of  the  performers,  the  hymn 
not  having  then  been  introduced  into  any  of  the  books  of  psalmody 
in  common  use. 

Before  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Hawes,  those  in  the  hollow  who 
were  in  the  habit  of  attending  congregational  meetings  went  to 
Goshen  for  the  service  of  public  worship,  where  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Heaton  was  then  pastor.  The  first  outlet  for  travel  in  carriages 
from  that  locality  was  furnished  by  the  construction  of  the  Litch- 
field and  Canaan  turnpike  road,  and  that  circumstance  turned  the 
worshipers  in  that  section  towards  Goshen.  But  after  the  settle- 
ment of  Mr.  Hawes,  we  attended  meeting  here.  From  my  recol- 
lection of  that  gentleman  I  should  say  he  was  a  very  good  preacher, 
and  would  be  so  esteemed  at  the  present  day.  Mr.  Hawes  lived 
first  in  the  house  called  the  Tailor  Brown  house,  on  the  corner 
south  of  the  meeting-house,  but  his  more  permanent  residence 
was  in  the  liouse  north  of  Judge  Burnham's,  said  to  have  been 
21 


162  HISTOKY    OF    CORNWALL. 

once  owned  by  the  grandfather  of  President  Fillmore.  He  was  in 
the  habit  of  riding  on  horseback  to  meeting  with  his  good  lady 
on  the  same  animal  behind  him,  a  method  of  travel  not  only  not 
uncommon,  but  very  common  among  all  classes  in  those  days. 

Mr.  Hawes  was  a  very  faithful  pastor,  and  had  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  all  classes  in  the  parish.  I  never  heard  him  spoken 
of  from  that  day  to  this,  but  with  the  utmost  respect  and  defer- 
ence. He  was  compelled  to  leave  because  he  could  not  live  on 
the  salary  which  the  society  was  able  to  pay;  but  he  went  with 
the  good  wishes  and  respect  of  the  whole  community.  After 
leaving  this  field  of  labor  he  was  very  soon  settled  over  a  parish 
in  Lyme,  in  this  State. 

The  first  deacon  whom  I  can  remember  in  active  duty  here 
was  Deacon  Hyatt.  I  never  knew  the  Deacon  Clark  who  lived 
on  Clark  Hill.  I  remember  once  attending  deacons'  meeting, 
where  Deacon  Hyatt  conducted  the  proceedings.  I  was  then  quite 
young,  and  only  remember  that  the  sermons  were  so  short  that 
two  of  them  were  read  in  the  morning  service,  the  singing  of  a 
psalm  intervening  the  reading  of  the  sermons. 

The  next  succeeding  deacons  whom  I  can  remember  were  Deacons 
Mallory  and  Titus  Hart.  During  the  time  intervening  between 
the  dismission  of  Mr.  Hawes  and  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Smith,  it 
often  occurred  that  there  were  long  intermissions  of  clerical  ser- 
vices in  the  parish,  and  during  such  intermissions  the  meetings 
were  conducted  by  the  deacons,  assisted  sometimes  by  Mr.  Daniel 
Harrison  and  Mr.  Timothy  Johnson.  There  was  no  apparent  dimi- 
nution in  the  attendance  at  such  seasons,  as  the  presiding  Deacon 
Mallory  had  a  method  of  conducting  the  proceedings  which  made 
them  very  satisfactory  to  the  congregation.  His  prayer  was  very 
free,  appropriate,  and  fervent,  and  he  sometimes  added  an  exhor- 
tation of  his  own,  which  showed  the  depth  of  his  christian  sym- 
pathy, and  the  fervor  of  his  christian  zeal.  It  might  have  been 
expected  that,  as  preaching  was  constantly  had  in  the  other  parish, 
many  of  this  congregation,  for  that  reason,  would  have  attended 
meeting  there,  but  there  was  a  kind  of  home  feeling  in  those 
christian  gatherings  in  that  old  tabernacle  of  the  Lord,  which 
made  it  very  amiable  to  the  worshipers  there,  and  very  few  de- 
serted the  meetings.  Mr.  Nathan  Hart,  afterwards  Deacon  Hart, 
well  known  to  this  day,  usually  read  the  sermon,  and  I  was  some- 
times called  upon  to  perform  that  service  myself. 

The  first  chorister  whom  I  remember  to  have  seen  officiating  in 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  163 

leading  the  singing  in  the  meeting-house,  was  Thomas  Hyatt,  a 
son  of  the  deacon  of  that  name  whom  I  have  mentioned.  He  was 
succeeded  in  that  office  by  Joel  Millard,  who  lived  at  the  foot  of 
Cream  Hill,  and  who,  with  a  clear  strong  voice,  led  the  choir  for 
several  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  Bradley  Mallory,  who  him- 
self sometimes  taught  a  singing-school  in  the  parish,  and  he  was 
in  charge  of  the  choral  services  when  I  left  Cornwall.  In  the 
absence  of  the  regular  chorister  Mr.  Nathan  Hart  usually  officiated. 

The  decayed  condition  of  the  old  meeting-house,  and  the  fact 
that  it  was  on  the  very  ouiskirt  of  the  parish,  prompted  a  move- 
ment, soon  after  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Smith,  to  erect  a  new  house 
of  worship.  The  strength  of  the  parish  lay  in  portions  north  and 
west  of  the  old  house,  but  the  neighborhood  in  which  it  was 
located,  and  some  others,  were  strongly  opposed  to  the  change  of 
site.  The  requisite  number  of  two-thirds  of  the  voters  at  a  society 
meeting  could  not  be  obtained  to  effect  the  object,  although  a 
majority  favored  the  place  which  was  afterward  selected.  The 
law  provided  that  in  such  cases  the  judges  of  the  county  court 
should  be  called  upon  to  designate  the  place  for  the  erection  of 
the  building.  Those  judges,  at  that  time,  were  Augustus  Pettibone 
of  Norfolk,  chief  judge,  and  Martin  Strong  of  Salisbury  and 
John  Welsh  of  Milton,  associate  judges.  After  a  due  hearing  of 
all  the  parties  concerned,  these  gentlemen  stuck  the  stake,  as  the 
proceeding  was  called  in  those  days,  at  the  place  now  occupied  by 
this  house  of  worship  (I  will  not  say  church,  as  applied  to  the 
building),  and  here  that  house  was  erected  in  1826,  fifty  years 
ago.  In  the  interval  between  the  taking  down  of  the  old  house 
and  the  finishing  of  the  new  one,  public  worship  was  celebrated 
in  an  old  tenantless  house,  standing  a  few  rods  south  of  this  build- 
ing, which  has  a  history  both  in  relation  to  its  former  occupants 
and  of  scenes  of  suffering  by  the  family  dwelling  there  during 
the  prevalence  of  the  small-pox  early  in  this  century,  which  I  have 
no  time  to  relate. 

A  few  members  of  the  society,  living  near  the  old  house,  felt 
that  they  had  been  deeply  wronged  by  the  change,  and  some 
threatened  secession,  but  time  and  reflection  smoothed  over  the 
difficulty,  and  with  most,  I  presume,  it  has  long  since  been  forgot- 
ten. In  the  height  of  the  conflict  an  action  at  law  was  brought  to 
the  superior  court  in  favor  of  one  or  more  of  the  original  sub- 
scribers to  the  building  of  the  old  house,  against  some  persons  who 
had  assisted  in  taking  it  down  and  appropriating  the  materials  to 


164  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

the  new  structure,  and  the  case  was  tried  vide  post,  on  a  plea  of 
abatement  to  the  suit,  for  the  reason  that  all  the  parties  in  interest 
had  not  been  joined  in  bringing  it  before  Chief -Justice  Hosmer  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  It  was  elaborately  argued  by- 
Mr.  Wheaton  for  the  plaintiff,  and  I  think  by  Mr.  Bacon  of  Litch- 
field, for  the  defendants.  Mr.  Wheaton's  strong  argument  was, 
that,  although  as  a  general  principle,  all  the  parties  in  interest 
should  be  joined  in  the  suit,  yet  here  was  a  case  of  absolute  refusal 
to  join,  and  a  refusal  which  utterly  deprived  the  plaintiffs  of  a 
remedy  for  the  wrongs  they  had  suffered,  which  was  a  state  of 
things  which  this  bar  would  not  tolerate.  The  chief-justice  was 
evidently  impressed  with  the  force  of  ffhe  argument,  and  took  the 
case  home  with  him  for  a  full  consideration  of  its  merits.  His 
opinion,  communicated  to  Mr.  Wheaton  in  writing,  was  in  sub- 
stance that  the  rule  that  all  parties  must  join  in  an  action  for  an 
injury  to  their  joint  property  was  imperative,  and  that  the  suit 
must  abate.  In  reply  to  the  argument  so  forcibly  urged  by  Mr. 
Wheaton,  he  said,  that  a  court  of  chancery,  on  proof  that  a  good 
cause  of  action  existed,  could  compel  the  recusant  members,  under 
a  penalty,  to  join  in  the  action.  I  have  understood  that  some 
adjustment  of  the  matter  was  effected.  At  any  rate,  there  was  no 
more  litigation  in  reference  to  it. 

The  meeting-house  here  was  fashioned  after  one  in  Sharon,  which 
was  built  two  years  before.  They  were  on  a  model  somewhat 
prevalent  in  those  days,  with  the  desk  between  doors  at  the  entrance 
of  the  audience-room,  with  the  seats  rising  on  an  inclined  plane  in 
front  of  the  pulpit,  with  the  organ-loft  behind  the  officiating  clergy- 
man. Many  years  after,  this  society  changed  the  interior  structure 
of  the  house  to  its  present  form,  and  we  in  Sharon  very  soon  fol- 
lowed your  example,  and  I  believe  the  members  of  both  parishes 
feel  that  the  change  has  been  a  decided  improvement. 

I  deem  it  not  out  of  place  here  to  say,  that  from  my  earliest 
recollection  there  has  existed  within  the  hmits  of  this  parish  a  very 
estimable  body  of  christians  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  denomina- 
tion, who,  in  the  periods  of  the  early  history  of  that  body,  prose- 
cuted religious  duties  here  with  great  zeal  and  faithfulness.  The 
Rev.  Henry  Christie,  who  was  one  of  the  first  preachers  on  the 
circuit  which  then  embraced  Cornwall,  afterwards  settled  here  as  a 
local  preacher.  He  was  a  pure-minded  christian  man,  and  faith- 
ful according  to  his  ability.  He  preached  in  the  Hollow,  once  in 
two  weeks,  for  many  years,  and  thus  furnished  an  opportunity  for 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  165 

worship  for  such  persons  as  were  unable  to  attend  other  meetings. 
There  was  not  much  point  or  method  to  his  sermons,  but  they 
teemed  with  earnest  exhortations.  His  prayer  was  very  earnest 
and  fervent,  and,  on  the  whole,  his  labors  in  the  Hollow  are  worthy 
of  a  grateful  remembrance. 

One  gentleman  of  that  denomination,  Mr.  Ozias  Hurlburt,  who 
resided  in  the  Hollow,  was  a  remarkable  instance  of  successful 
seK-culture;  who,  in  that  way,  had  schooled  himself  to  the  attain- 
ment of  much  knowledge  and  many  useful  acquirements.  But 
theology  was  his  great  study,  and  in  that  department  he  could 
maintain  his  own  views  of  the  Divine  government  of  man  with 
great  ability.  I  remember  to  have  heard  him  say  that  he  had 
read  President  Edwards's  Treatise  on  the  Will,  and  I  should  think 
from  what  he  said  that  he  found  no  difficulty  in  delivering  his  own 
mind  from  the  stern  conclusions  of  the  great  theologian.  He  was 
very  superstitious  on  some  subjects,  believing  in  the  significance  of 
celestial  omens,  as  that  the  appearance  of  a  comet,  which  he  called 
a  "blazing  star,"  was  a  sure  sign  of  impending  war.  But  with  all 
these  vagaries,  which  themselves  gave  a  zest  to  his  conversation,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  men  in  social  interviews  with  whom 
I  held  intercourse  in  my  early  years. 

I  have  now  presented  a  very  imperfect  history  of  this  parish 
down  to  a  period  within  the  memory  of  others  who  are  much 
better  able  to  give  the  sequel  than  I  can  be.  It  remains  only  to 
speak  of  some  individuals  who  were  active  in  the  measures  already 
spoken  of,  for  the  organization  of  the  society,  and  for  giving  sta- 
bility to  its  parochial  existence.  But  before  doing  this,  I  wish  to 
say  that  I  know  of  no  rural  community — and  I  do  not  confine  the 
statement  to  members  of  one  denomination,  but  taking  the  territory 
as  a  whole — I  know  of  no  rural  community  which,  in  the  evidence 
of  the  industry  of  its  inhabitants,  and  in  the  external  proof  of 
thrift,  taste,  intellectual  culture,  and  social  enjoyment,  can  bear 
any  comparison  with  this.  In  fact,  the  whole  parish  has  been 
rebuilt.  Within  my  recollection,  there  were  but  three  white 
houses  in  the  whole  society.  Captain  Wadsworth,  his  son-in-law 
Captain  Gold,  on  Cream  Hill,  and  Lot  Hart,  at  the  locality  then 
called  Hart's  Bridge,  now  West  Cornwall,  had  given  their  houses 
a  coat  of  white  paint,  and  a  few  of  the  more  aristocratic  families, 
as  the  Rogerses,  Johnsons,  and  perhaps  some  others,  had  painted 
their  houses  red ;  but,  with  these  exceptions,  nearly  every  tenement 
in  the  parish  was  a  brown,  weather-beaten  building;  some  of  them 


166  HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL, 

mere  cottages,  with  few,  if  any,  outward  adornments  of  shade  trees 
and  shrubbery,  and,  in  many  cases,  the  door-yard  fence  was  a  huge 
massive  stone  wall.  These  tenements  sheltered  an  honest,  indus- 
trious, painstaking,  pious  people,  who  in  humble  life,  and  in  com- 
paratively straitened  circumstances,  were  laying  foundations  on 
which  their  children  and  grandchildren  could  build  beautiful  hab- 
itations, and  provide  all  the  appliances  of  intelligent  social  and 
individual  enjoyment. 

Citizens  of  North  Cornwall!  you  can  scarcely  comprehend  and 
estimate  the  value  of  your  inheritance  in  the  stern  virtues  of 
your  ancestors. 

I  have  been  furnished  with  a  list  of  the  male  members  of  the 
church,  at  its  formation  as  an  independent  church,  in  1780-82. 
They  numbered  ten.  The  only  members  whom  I  knew  were,  Eli- 
jah Steele  and  Noah  Rogers.  Mr.  Steele  was  a  deacon  of  the  old 
church  of  Cornwall,  and  was  one  of  those  who  came  out  in  opposi- 
tion to  Mr.  Gold,  the  pastor.  He  was  originally  from  West  Hart- 
ford, and  in  this  town  lived  in  the  east  part  of  the  parish  next 
north  of  the  Johnsons.  He  was  of  some  prominence  in  the  affairs 
of  the  town,  and  in  1768  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  He 
joined  the  seceders  who  formed  the  independent  church,  as  did  his 
colleague.  Deacon  Waller,  but  I  do  not  know  that  he  was  a  deacon 
in  that  church.  He  was  called  Deacon  Steele  during  his  life.  He 
returned  to  West  Hartford  during  the  latter  years  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, but  in  1805-6  he  came  back  to  Cornwall,  a  full-fledged 
Quaker,  in  drab  drapery  and  broad-brim.  He  lived  in  the  Hollow 
till  1810,  when,  on  the  death  of  his  wife,  with  his  second  wife,  who 
was  a  sister  of  my  grandmother,  he  went  to  Albany,  and  there 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  with  his  son,  Eliphalet  Steele.  I 
knew  him  only  after  he  joined  the  Friends.  He  was  a  mild,  intel- 
ligent, amiable  old  gentleman,  and  his  wife,  whom  our  family 
affectionately  called  Aunt  Sarah,  was  one  of  the  most  sweet- 
tempered,  lovable  old  ladies  I  ever  knew.  Her  remains  repose  in 
the  cemetery  in  the  Hollow. 

I  well  remember  Noah  Rogers,  senr.,  the  other  member  of  the 
church  at  its  original  formation,  of  which  I  have  spoken.  He  was 
said  to  be  a  descendant  in  the  sixth  generation  from  the  martyr  of 
Smithfield,  and  I  beheve  that  the  tradition  of  such  descent  is  toler- 
ably well  authenticated.  I  remember  him  as  a  very  old  man,  who 
was  constant  in  his  attendance  at  meeting,  portly  in  his  physical 
dimensions,  and  regarded  as  a  patriarch  of  the  parish.     He  was 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HI8T0KY.  167 

probably  the  most  wealthy  man  in  the  society,  and  Ms  benefactions, 
and  those  of  his  descendants  here,  have  done  much  to  give  strength 
and  stability  to  the  concerns  of  the  parish. 

The  most  prominent  man  in  the  affairs  of  the  town  and  society 
for  many  years,  was  Oliver  Burnham,  Esq.  His  early  life  was 
eventful.  He  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Kensington,  in  Berlin, 
where  his  grandfather  was  an  eminent  clergyman,  and  at  the  age 
of  fifteen  enlisted  as  a  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution.  He 
was  in  all  the  battles  near  New  York,  and  on  Long  Island,  during 
the  operations  of  the  British  army,  which  resulted  in  the  capture 
of  that  city,  in  1776.  He  told  me  that  he  stood  within  five  feet  of 
the  lamented  Colonel  Knowlton  when  he  was  shot  dead,  at  the 
battle  of  Harlem  Plains.  He  was  one  of  the  forlorn  hope  who 
defended  Fort  Washington,  the  last  foothold  of  the  Americans 
on  York  Island,  to  the  last  extremity,  and  was  one  of  the  2,000 
prisoners  who  there  surrendered  to  the  British.  He  was  confined, 
with  comrades,  in  a  loathsome  prison  called  the  Sugar  House,  and 
there  suffered  from  the  infection  of  the  small-pox,  from  which  his 
recovery  was  very  protracted.  He  told  me  that  he  believed  that 
the  British  officers  connived  at  his  escape  on  account  of  his  ex- 
treme youth.  At  any  rate,  he  was  allowed  to  depart  quietly  from 
the  city,  and  when  he  presented  himself  to  his  captain,  within  the 
American  lines,  it  was  with  much  difficulty  that  he  could  persuade 
that  officer  that  he  was  the  identical  young  Burnham  who  belonged 
to  his  company,  so  great  a  change  had  the  small-pox  made  in  his 
personal  appearance.  He  came  to  Cornwall  about  1790,  and 
gradually  acquired  an  extensive  and  commanding  influence  in  the 
town  and  society.  He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  at  more 
than  thirty  sessions.  He  also  was  for  a  time  a  judge  of  the 
county  court,  and  for  some  forty  years  a  magistrate  of  the  town. 
It  was  sometimes  said  of  him  that  he  used  his  opportunities  to 
acquire  and  retain  popularity  with  great  cunning  and  sagacity,  Init 
it  can  be  truly  said  of  him  that  his  influence  was  always  exercised 
in  promoting  peace,  quiet,  and  good  order  in  the  community.  His 
influence  was  so  persuasive  that  he  was  able  to  do  much  in  healing 
contentions  in  families  and  neighborhoods.  I  have  often  said, 
since  his  decease,  while  contentions  and  Ktigations  were  rife  among 
those  who  were  his  own  neighbors,  that  I  wished  Judge  Burnham 
could  come  back  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  plenitude  of  his  influence 
to  put  an  effectual  quiet  upon  the  storm.  He  never  united  with 
the  church,  but  it  was  said  that  in  difficult  matters  before  it  he 


168  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

was  often  consulted,  and  his  good  counsels  in  such  matters  were 
duly  heeded.  Towards  the  close  of  his  protracted  life  he  con- 
formed to  the  Episcopal  church,  received  confirmation  at  the  hands 
of  its  Bishop,  and  was  buried  in  its  rites. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  Deacon  Eliakim  Mallory  in  regard  to 
his  method  of  conducting  public  worship.  It  is  due  to  his  memory 
to  say  further,  that  as  a  citizen  of  the  town  and  a  member  of  the 
community,  he  was  universally  respected  and  beloved.  There  was 
a  cordiality  in  his  greetings,  and  a  geniality  in  his  social  inter- 
course which  would  attract  one  at  once  to  his  person.  In  all  his 
familiarity  with  his  friends,  he  never  deviated  from  the  line  of 
high  christian  integrity,  and  at  the  la'st  he  died  in  the  calmness  of 
christian  confidence  and  in  the  serenity  of  christian  hope. 

Of  his  colleague,  Deacon  Titus  Hart,  I  had  not  much  personal 
knowledge.  I  never  heard  him  speak  except  in  public  prayer,  and 
there  was  a  solemnity,  and  I  may  say  a  propriety,  in  his  language 
and  manner  which  betokened  a  devotion  and  faith  deep-seated  in 
the  heart  of  the  suppliant.  He  was  much  respected  as  a  citizen, 
but  did  not  mingle  as  much  in  the  community  as  did  his  colleague. 
Deacon  Mallory. 

Another  gentleman  of  many  peculiarities  of  character,  and  of 
some  prominence  in  the  parish,  was  Daniel  Harrison,  who  lived  in 
the  Hollow.  The  most  prominent  element  in  his  character  was  his 
unyielding  adherence  to  a  purpose  once  formed,  and  his  disposi- 
tion to  assume  prominence  and  authority  in  all  his  intercourse  with 
men.  He  spake  as  an  oracle  on  matters  to  which  his  attention  was 
invited,  and  arguments  tending  to  persuade  him  to  change  Ms 
opinion  were  wasted  in  the  air.  He  had  some  difficulty  with  the 
School  District  in  the  Hollow,  claiming  that  a  just  debt  was  due 
him,  which  the  district  declined  to  pay.  He  said  he  would  never 
attend  meeting  in  the  house  until  that  debt  was  paid.  At  one  time 
his  minister,  Mr.  Hawes,  appointed  to  preach  an  afternoon  lecture 
there,  and  the  neighbors  interested  themselves  much  in  the  ques- 
tion whether  Uncle  Daniel,  as  we  called  him,  would  attend,  but  he 
was  not  there,  and  I  heard  him  say,  speaking  of  the  circumstance, 
that  he  would  not  have  attended  if  Gabriel  had  appointed  to 
preach  there.  It  is  due  to  his  memory  to  say  that  the  district 
afterwards  acknowledged  the  justice  of  his  claim,  and  paid  it  in 
full.  From  that  time  he  attended  the  meetings  in  the  school- 
house,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  minister,  usually  conducted  tliera. 

Notwithstanding  his  peculiarities  in  the  respects  just  mentioned. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  169 

he  was  a  man  of  expanded  and,  sometimes,  of  daring  benevo- 
lence. If  a  neighbor,  through  sickness  or  other  untoward  provi- 
dence, fell  behind  in  the  gathering  of  his  crops,  or  in  any  other 
discouragement  of  his  affairs,  he  was  among  the  first  and  most 
willing  with  his  personal  labor  and  with  his  team  to  bring  up  the 
affairs  of  his  unfortunate  neighbor  to  a  good  condition.  When  a 
mortal  sickness  raged  through  the  town  in  1812,  and  many  of  our 
citizens  were  keeping  themselves  in  seclusion  for  fear  of  contagion, 
he  was  abroad  ministering  to  the  sick,  and  enshrouding  and  bury- 
ing the  dead.  And  when,  in  1802,  Ebenezer  Jackson  was  attacked 
with  the  small-pox,  of  which  he  died,  in  the  old  house  which  stood 
just  south  of  here,  and  his  neighbors  fled  from  him  and  abandoned 
him  to  his  fate,  Daniel  Harrison,  ashamed  that  he  should  be  left  to 
die  in  solitude,  with  no  other  protection  than  a  recent  vaccination  for 
the  kine-pox,  braved  the  terrors  of  the  pestilence,  and  ministered 
to  the  wants  of  the  dying  man.  We  can  pardon  many  obliquities 
of  character  in  such  a  man.  He  was  faithful  in  christian  duties, 
giving  exhortations  and  offering  prayers  in  conference  meetings, 
and  visiting  and  praying  with  the  sick  in  his  neighborhood,  and 
usually,  in  the  absence  of  Deacon  Hart,  assisted  Deacon  Mallory  in 
conducting  the  exercises  of  public  worship.  The  last  struggle 
which  he  had  with  an  adverse  public  sentiment  was  when  the 
place  of  worship  was  changed  by  the  building  of  a  new  meeting- 
house. Although  it  brought  the  meetinghouse  much  nearer  to 
him,  yet,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  he  was  decidedly  opposed  to  the 
change,  and  that  opinion,  thus  formed,  he  never  yielded.  His 
argument  in  society  meetings  was,  that  skillful  ecclesiastical  strategy 
required  that  the  fort,  as  he  called  it,  should  be  kept  on  the  fron- 
tier, and  that  the  removal  of  it  into  the  interior  would  invite 
invasion  from  without.  He  persisted  in  his  opposition,  and,  I 
believe,  never  entered  the  new  meeting-house.  I  believe  that  at 
one  time  action  on  the  part  of  the  church  was  contemplated  on 
account  of  his  neglect  of  public  worship  and  ordinances,  but  his 
brethren,  pardoning  much  from  his  great  age  and  his  peculiarities  of 
character,  never  proceeded  against  him,  and  he  was  suffered  to  die 
in  peace., 

I  had  intended  to  speak  of  others  who  were  active  in  building 
up  the  society  and  maintaining  its  permanence  and  integrity,  but  I 
find  that  to  do  so  will  encroach  upon  the  time  allotted  for  the  other 
exercises  of  this  occasion.  I  can  recall  the  names  of  many  of 
whom  I  should  like  to  speak,  but  they  will  live  in  the  traditions  of 
22 


170  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

the  parish  and  in  the  personal  knowledge  of  many  yet  surviving, 
and  they  will  not  be  forgotten,  though  I  am  compelled  to  pass 
them  by. 

I  cannot  close  without  tendering  to  those  now  composing  that 
ecclesiastical  organization  my  sincere  congratulations  on  its  pres- 
ent condition  of  stability  and  prosperity,  and  during  the  progress 
of  human  affairs  towards  the  final  consummation  of  all  things,  may 
this  parish  continue  to  meet  the  obligations  of  the  times  as  they 
arise,  and  fullfil  its  destiny  as  one  of  the  instruments  of  God  in 
building  up  his  kingdom  and  accomplishing  his  work. 


SKETCH  OF   CHURCH  ERECTION  AT  NORTH  CORNWALL. 

BY    NATHAN    HART. 

Mr.  President  and  Friends  :  My  paper  shall  have  one  merit — that 
of  brevity.  And  if  in  this  sketch  I  misstate  facts  or  give  a  differ- 
ent version  to  tradition  than  some  of  you  have  heard,  it  will  be 
because  the  tradition  is  not  remembered  by  the  "  elders  "  all  alike, 
and  I  have  endeavored  to  give  the  most  probable. 

The  great  question  for  this  struggling  church,  after  the  separa- 
tion— few  in  numbers,  straitened  in  means,  but  strong  in  faith — 
to  consider  was,  a  house  wherein  to  worship  God. 

The  house  was  built  on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  school- 
house  near  the  Methodist  church  at  the  Center.  This  was  a  plain, 
barn-like  structure,  in  which  many  present  remember  to  have 
worshiped. 

In  February,  1824,  a  new  move  was  made  to  build  a  meeting- 
house, and  a  committee  appointed  to  report  a  plan,  but  instead  of 
a  plan,  they  reported  the  movement  premature.  The  report  was 
accepted.  But  at  the  same  meeting  a  vote  was  passed  to  build  a 
new  meeting-house  on  the  public  road,  near  where  the  old  one 
stands,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  go  one  step  further  than  any 
former  committee  had  been  directed  to  go,  viz.,  to  fix  on  a  site. 
This  fixing  the  site  of  the  new  house  was  the  rock  on  which  they 
split,  and  was  the  beginning  of  difficulties  that  resulted  in  the  with- 
drawal of  twenty-one  names  from  the  roll  of  the  society,  and  a 
formidable  array  of  names  they  were,  too.  This  committee  stuck 
the  stake  about  where  the  house  of  the  late  Ithamar  Baldwin 
now  stands.  This  vote  was  subsequently  reconsidered,  and  a  new 
committee  fixed  the  site  a  little  east  of,  and  nearer  the  road,  where 
the  house  of  Mr.  John  R.  Harrison  stands.     An  effort  was  now 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  171 

made  to  unite  the  two  societies,  and  the  matter  of  building  rested 
a  few  months,  only  to  be  agitated  again  on  the  failure  of  the  effort 
at  union,  and  a  new  plan  for  fixing  the  site  (I  use  the  words  of  the 
record)  was  adopted.  The  standing  committee  of  the  society  was 
directed  to  invite  a  disinterested  committee,  consisting  of  Daniel 
Bacon,  Morris  Woodruff,  and  Moses  Lyman,  to  fix  on  a  site  for 
the  new  meeting-house,  as  soon  as  the  sum  of  $2,500,  was  sub- 
scribed. They  were  directed  to  provide  quarters,  and  pay  their 
expenses,  But  right  here  a  new  issue  must  be  decided.  It  was  a 
bold  offer  of  Capt.  Noah  Rogers,  of  the  ground  and  a  certain  sum 
of  money,  the  amount  is  not  known,  "provided  the  house  was 
built  on  the  corner  where  it  now  stands."  This  offer  was  rejected 
at  a  special  meeting  held  the  22d  day  of  February,  1825.  The 
vote  was  thirty -five  yeas,  twenty-eight  nays,  seven  neutral;  not 
being  a  two-thirds  vote,  it  was  declared  not  a  vote.  And  about 
this  time  those  favoring  building  got  their  grit  up,  and  we  find 
them,  on  the  14th  of  March,  voting  to  call  on  the  judge  of  the 
county  court  to  fix  the  site  for  the  new  meeting-house,  and  this 
place  was  selected.  It  is  not  recorded  when  the  court  examined 
the  matter,  but  it  must  have  been  between  this  and  the  11th  day 
of  the  following  April,  for  on  that  day  Mr.  Julius  Hart,  Benj. 
Catlin,  Uriah  Tanner,  Chalker  Pratt,  "Wm.  Stoddard,  Daniel  Wick- 
wire,  and  Benjamin  Sedgwick  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
sohcit  subscriptions  to  build  a  meeting-house  on  the  ground  fixed 
by  the  county  court,  and  subsequently  Darius  Miner  and  John  C. 
Rogers  were  added  to  the  committee. 

This  must  have  been  a  trying  time  to  this  band  of  heroes,  for 
from  April  9th  to  the  11th  fifteen  men  withdrew  from  the  society, 
which  number  was  increased  to  twenty-one  in  a  few  weeks.  But 
they  went  forward  in  the  strength  of  a  firm  purpose,  and  in  the 
face  of  every  difficulty,  and  subscribed  the  necessary  $2,500.  And 
the  record  of  names  and  amount  subscribed  by  each  is  preserved. 
It  would  seem  as  if  these  earnest  men  were  deserving  of  a  respite 
from  their  perplexities,  with  the  money  pledged  and  the  stake 
legally  stuck,  but  not  so.  But  with  astonishing  forbearance  we 
find  them  meeting  again  in  deference  to  the  opposition,  and  con- 
senting to  remove  the  site  to  a  place  opposite  Oliver  Burnham's 
house,  provided  a  sum  was  subscribed,  within  one  week,  to  exceed 
the  sum  subscribed  to  build  on  the  site  fixed  by  the  county 
court.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  the  subscription  lacked 
$800  of  the  necessary  amount. 

And  now  the  dove  has  found  a  resting-place  for  her  tired  wing, 


172  mSTOEY    OF    CORNWALL. 

and  as  we  look  over  the  weary  way  the  little  flock  has  come,  we 
admire  the  christian  patience  and  forbearance  exercised,  and  we 
admire  and  love  them  more  and  more  as  it  culminates  in  the 
closing  lines  of  the  last  vote,  in  these  words:  "We  do  deeply 
regret  any  circumstance  that  militates  against  the  union  and  har- 
mony of  the  society,  and  do  most  cordially,  affectionately,  and 
sincerely  invite  all  persons,  heretofore  belonging  to  it,  to  unite 
with  us  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  on  the  site  estab- 
lished by  the  court." 

On  the  9th  of  November,  1825,  Benjamin  Cathn  and  Chalker 
Pratt  entered  into  a  contract  with  Hiram  Vaill  to  build.  How 
much  was  paid  besides  the  old  meeting-house  is  not  stated,  but  it 
is  supposed  that  the  $2,534  subscribed  was  the  amount.  But  no 
doubt  much  material  was  given  outside  of  the  subscription  and 
contract,  for  they  had  a  mind  to  work.  In  fact,  I  am  told  the 
timber  for  the  frame  was  all  given,  and  the  contract  included 
everything  else. 

Noah  Rogers,  Benjamin  Catlin,  and  Chalker  Pratt  were  the 
building  committee. 

The  work  once  commenced,  there  was  great  enthusiasm  in  prose- 
cuting it.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  record  of  dates 
or  facts  in  relation  to  the  progress  of  the  work.  But  I  am  told 
that  many  of  the  society  met,  and  with  much  trepidation  pro- 
ceeded to  break  ground  for  the  foundation,  and  that  Anson  Rogers 
removed  the  first  shovelful  of  dirt.  But  a  time  of  much  greater 
trepidation  attended  the  taking  down  of  the  old  meeting-house. 

With  a  full  knowledge  of  the  bitter  opposition  on  the  part  of 
some,  and  the  inconvenience  warm  friends  and  family  connec- 
tions would  be  subjected  to,  it  was  like  shutting  the  door  to  all 
prospects  for  a  union  with  the  old  society  for  generations  to  come, 
if  not  for  ever.  And  it  is  no  wonder  they  hesitated,  as  it  is 
said  they  did,  and  one  Asa  Emmons  did  bring  a  suit  which  cost 
the  society  $100  to  compromise.  One  account  has  it,  that  the 
society  met  by  private  understanding  early  in  the  morning,  fearing 
an  injunction  would  be  served  on  them,  restraining  them  from 
taking  the  house  down,  and  that  before  night  it  was  down  and  the 
largest  part  removed  to  this  place.* 

Living  authorities  do  not  agree  upon  the  day  of  the  month 
whereon  the  raising  of  the  frame  occurred.    The  best  authenticated 


*  A  recent  letter  from  one  of  the  opposers  says,  "  How  large  those  matters 
seemed  then  ;  how  small  now  ! "  T.  S.  G. 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  173 

account  fixes  the  date  the  2'7th,  2Sth,  and  29th  of  June,  A.  D. 
1826.  Others  have  it  that  it  occurred  a  few  days  earlier,  and  ex- 
tended to  nearly  or  quite  a  week,  with  an  interval  of  one  day  on 
which  some  of  those  engaged  on  the  work  went  to  Goshen,  where 
was  ameeting  of  Masons,  St.  John's  Day  occurring  on  the  24th  of 
June,  which  was  Saturday.  Hence  it  appears  that  the  work  of 
getting  the  timber  together  commenced  before  the  24th,  and  that 
the  27th,  28th,  and  29th  the  work  of  raising  the  frame  was  ac- 
compHshed.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  account  left  of 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  and  that  no  living  person  has  been 
found  who  remembers  the  ceremonies  connected  with  it,  or  the 
articles  deposited  within  or  under  it.*  A  lesson  to  the  present  gen- 
eration, and  the  one  just  coming  on  the  stage  of  action,  to  be 
more  careful  and  particular  in  preserving  in  detail  matters  of  in- 
terest connected  with  all  public  as  well  as  private  matters.  The 
dedication  is  recorded  in  these  words:  "The  meeting-house  in  the 
2d  ecclesiastical  society  in  Cornwall  was  dedicated  to  Almighty 
God  on  the  11th  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1827.— C.  Pratt,  *S'.  (7."  ■ 

Rev.  Walter  Smith  preached  the  sermon,  and  was  assisted  in 
the  services  by  the  Rev.  Timothy  Stone.  Mr.  Smith  had  just 
recovered  from  his  ill  health,  and  the  sermon  is  said  to  have  been 
exceedingly  appropriate,  and  worthy  the  occasion,  and  it  was  re- 
marked by  people  from  other  parishes,  "  that  if  sending  ministers 
to  Hartford  would  enable  them  to  preach  like  that,  it  would  be  a 
good  plan  to  send  more  of  them." 

It  was  a  proud,  glad  day  to  the  little  band  when  the  offering  to 
Almighty  God  was  made,  free  from  debt.  It  was  in  architecture 
and  finish  far  in  advance  of  any  of  the  surrounding  houses  of 
worship,  and  in  their  eyes  it  was  a  thing  of  beauty,  and  no  doubt 
will  be  a  joy  for  ever  to  many  new-born  souls  that  have  first  learned 
to  offer  true  worship  within  its  sacred  walls. 

The  slips  in  the  house  have  been  rearranged,  and  repairs  made 
from  time  to  time  since.  I  don't  find  when  stoves  were  intro- 
duced, but  remember  well  how  some  of  the  ladies  suffered  severely 

*  Two  verses  only  remain  of  a  poem  written  for  the  occasion  by  Mr.  Vaill,  the 

builder : 

Here  stands  the  great  and  noble  frame, 
The  Christians  Temple  be  its  name, 
Erected  by  the  christians  of  this  land, 
And  here  judiciously  let  it  stand. 

Next,  to  the  minister  I  would  say : 
"  May  you  go  on  that  heavenly  way, 
And  teach  the  people  of  this  place 
To  seek  for  true  and  saving  grace." 


174  HISTOEY    OF   CORNWALL. 

with  the  headache,  who  were  greatly  chagrined  afterwards  on 
learning  that  there  had  been  no  fire  in  them. 

The  bell  was  purchased  in  1844,  and  gave  out  its  clear,  musical 
call  to  worship  for  a  Sunday  or  two,  when  one  morning  the  bell- 
ringer,  on  pulling  the  rope,  could  get  no  sound  from  its  hollow 
throat,  which  was  accounted  for  some  days  after,  when  the  tongue 
was  found  in  a  mowing-field  some  distance  from  the  church,  and  it 
is  said  "that  Wm.  Clark  remarked  that  they  could  not  hide  it  so 
but  what  he  could  find  it." 

Ambrose  S.  Rogers  had  the  honor  of  drawing  the  first  stick  of 
timber.  It  was  white  oak,  and  was  cut  from  the  woods  near 
where  the  tables  are  set.  It  forms  one  of  the  corner-posts.  A 
pillar  that  grew  upon  my  father's  land  was  white  wood,  as  straight 
as  a  candle,  and  I  have  often  seen  the  stump  from  which  it  was 
cut.  There  is  a  silver  half-dollar  on  each  side  the  star  on  the  apex 
of  the  spire,  Noah  Rogers  and  William  Clark  each  giving  one 
for  that  purpose.  The  workmen  employed  were  boarded  for  ,$1.00 
per  week,  and  most  of  them  were  good  feeders,  and  were  amply 
supplied.* 

If  I  had  ability  to  garnish  the  facts  with  fitting  words,  and  ade- 
quate to  express  the  self-sacrificing  labors  of  those  heroic  men, 
some  of  you  would  think  I  was  talking  for  effect.  Those  were 
days  that  tried  men's  souls,  and  the  virtues  displayed  were  akin 
to  those  of  IV 7 6,  and  to  us  they  speak  in  thunder  tones,  "Keep 
those  things  which  are  committed  to  you,  and  hand  them  down  to 
future  generations  intact  and  untarnished." 

ANNIVERSARY  HYMN. 

BY  MRS.  C.  E.  BALDWIN. 

Air,  ^'America." 

On  this  glad  day  of  days, 
Father,  help  us  to  praise 

Thy  name  alone. 
Nobler  than  sacrifice 
Our  thankful  prayers  shall  rise 
Like  incense  thro'  the  skies, 

E'en  to  Thy  throne. 

*  Every  forest  was  laid  under  contribution.  No  choice  stick  was  exempt.  I 
have  seen  the  stump  (white  oak),  still  undecayed,  in  my  east  woods,  which  fur- 
nished the  north  sill.  The  original  pulpit,  very  elaborate,  and  gallery  front 
were  of  butternut,  stained,  resembling  mahogany,  as  was  much  of  the  rest  of 
the  wood  work.  T.  S.  G. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  175 

Man  formed  with  patient  toil, 
Thou  fiU'dst  with  beaten  oil 

This  lamp  of  grace, 
Then  bright  its  flame  did  shine 
With  radiance  all  divine, 
A  glory  caught  from  Thine, 

Illumed  the  place. 

By  Thy  creative  power. 

Thy  fostering  sun  and  shower 

This  palm-tree  grew. 
And  olive,  box,  and  pine, 
And  richly-fruited  vine 
Feared  not  destroying  rime, 

Nor  woodman  knew. 

O  lamp  of  life !  still  burn, 

O  palm-tree  !  heavenward  turn. 

Nor  ever  cease. 
O  olive-tree !  endure  ; 
Sign  of  God's  presence  sure, 
Christ's  legacy  most  pure. 

Emblem  of  peace. 

Father  of  lights,  above. 
From  Thy  great  heart  of  love. 

Our  own  inspire. 
May  all,  Thy  goodness  sing. 
Till  heaven's  wide  arch  shall  ring ; 
Let  all  their  tributes  bring. 

And  swell  the  choir. 

OTHER  RELIGIOUS  DENOMINATIONS. 

Methodists. — Although  the  Congregational  order  was  the  one 
established  here  in  the  early  settlement  of  the  town,  the  Methodists 
were  early  introduced  by  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Garret- 
son  and  Wigdon  in  1770.  A  Mr.  Bloodgood  preached  here  in 
1788,  and  about  the  same  date  the  Rev.  Henry  Christie.  The  first 
Methodist  meeting-house  was  built  in  May,  1808.  It  was  the 
building  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Jacob  Sandmeyer  as  a  resi- 
dence (1870),  on  the  old  turnpike  easterly  of  William  Baldwin's. 
The  land  was  the  gift  of  Capt.  Edward  Rogers. 

The  new  Methodist  church  at  the  Center  was  erected  in  the 
year  1839;  also,  a  few  years  later,  a  church 'was  built  at  Cornwall 
Bridge. 

Gurdon  Rexford,  brother  of  Samuel  Rexford,  was  a  Methodist 
minister,  and  settled  on  Cream  Hill. 

The  Rev.  Gurdon  Rexford  Dayton,  a  Methodist  minister,  a 
native  of  Goshen,  preached  in  Cornwall  for  two  years,  about 
1821-22.  He  resided  in  East  street,  opposite  the  Birdsey  place. 
His  peculiar  amiableness  and  pleasant  manners  endeared  him  to 


176  HISTOET    OF    COENWALL. 

all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance.  He  was  also  inter- 
esting as  a  preacher.  The  funeral  sermon  of  old  Mr.  James 
Wadsworth  was  delivered  by  him  at  the  house  of  the  deceased  on 
Cream  Hill,  in  which  he  used  the  very  appropriate  quotation: 

"  The  chamber  where  the  good  man  meets  his  fate, 
Is  privileged  above  the  common  walks  of  life." 

Those  who  remember  the  exemplary  piety  of  Mr.  James  Wads- 
worth,  his  fervent  prayers  and  kind,  persuasive  exhortations,  will 
fully  appreciate  the  applicability  of  these  lines  on  such  an  occasion. 

The  Rev.  Gad  Smith,  a  young  Methodist  minister  who  used  to 
preach  in  Cornwall  some  fifty  or  sixty  years  since,  is  deemed 
worthy  of  particular  notice.  A  native  of  Sharon,  he  obtained  a 
classical  education  at  the  academy  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Parker,  in 
Ellsworth.  He  was  a  good  scholar  and  a  most  exemplary  christian. 
As  a  preacher,  he  was  solemn,  earnest,  and  effective.  He  was  not 
long  permitted  to  preach  the  gospel,  but  he  fell  an  early  victim  to 
consumption.  His  grave  is  in  the  burial-ground  on  the  Sharon 
road,  a  little  distance  beyond  the  late  residence  of  Mr.  Silas  Gray. 
His  earnest  piety  and  the  fragrance  of  his  many  virtues  embalm 
his  memory  and  hallow  the  spot  of  his  sepulture. 

Many  other  pious  and  worthy  ministers  of  the  gospel  have 
preached  their  one  and  two  years  in  Cornwall  since  the  first  intro- 
duction of  Methodism  into  the  town. 

Baptists. — In  the  summer  of  1800  Samuel  Wadsworth,  son  of 
Mr.  Joseph  Wadsworth,  then  living  on  Cream  Hill,  and  a  grandson 
of  Mr.  James  Douglass,  was  baptized  by  a  Baptist  mmister  in  the 
Cream  Hill  lake.  This  ceremony  from  its  novelty  at  the  time 
attracted  a  large  attendance  of  people.  There  may  have  been 
Baptists  here  at  an  earlier  day,  but  no  accessible  records  furnish 
data  of  their  existence  in  this  town  previous  to  the  above  date. 
Among  the  early  Baptist  preachers  in  Cornwall  were  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Bates,  Fuller,  and  Talmadge.  Elder  Fuller,  the  father  of 
Mrs.  Deacon  Nettleton,  had  not  a  permanent  residence  in  this 
town,  but  often  preached  at  the  house  of  Captain  Samuel  Wads- 
worth on  Cream  Hill.  He  was  peculiarly  solemn  and  earnest  in 
presenting  his  subject  to  his  hearers,  sometimes  exciting  to  tears 
even  the  children,  who  would  listen  to  him  in  breathless  silence. 
His  residence  was  in  Kent,  where  some  of  his  descendants  yet 
remain. 

Lieutenant  Nettleton,  who  perished  in  New  Orleans  during  the 
late  rebellion,  was  a  grandson  of  Elder  Fuller.     He  was  a  worthy 


CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  177 

descendant  of  his  sainted  grandsire.  Colonel  Charles  D.  Blinn  is 
also  a  descendant  of  this  noble  ancestry. 

Elder  Talmadge  was  a  very  worthy  man,  and  lived  on  the  farm 
now  belonging  to  Mr.  Franklin  Reed. 

The  first  Baptist  church  was  erected  about  sixty  years  ago,  and 
is  now  occupied  as  a  dwelling  by  Mr.  Elias  Scoville.  The  Baptist 
church  in  Cornwall  Hollow  was  built  about  thirty  years  since,  and 
soon  after  another  on  Great  Hill.  , 

Roman  Catholic. — A  small  Roman  Catholic  church  was  erected 
at  West  Cornwall  about  1850. 

These,  with  the  two  Congregational  churches,  and  chapel  now 
building  at  West  Cornwall,  in  all  eight  in  number,  for  a  population 
of  less  than  two  thousand,  afford  ample  accommodations  for  re- 
ligious worship. 


CORNWALL  HOLLOW. 

All  Historical  Address  delivered  at  the  Baptist  Church  in  Cornwall 
Hollow,  Oct.  19,  1865. 

BY    GEN.    CHARLES    F.    SEDGWICK    OF    SHARON. 

In  looking  over  the  inhabitants  now  dwelling  in  this  locality, 
which,  from  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  town,  has  been  called 
Cornwall  Hollow,  I  find  but  few  persons  who  can  date  their  birth 
back  to  within  the  eighteenth  century.  This  fact  indicates  a  great 
change  in  the  persons  resident  here  within  the  period  of  my  recol- 
lection. My  memory  in  regard  to  some  facts  runs  back  to  the  last 
year  of  the  last  century,  and  from  that  time  to  this,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  keep  tolerably  well  posted  in  regard  to  the  families  and 
persons  of  my  old  neighbors.  One  fact  in  regard  to  the  families 
in  this  Hollow  is  noticeable,  and  that  is,  the  permanence  of  family 
names.  The  Harrisons,  Hurlburts,  Bradfords,  Wilcoxes,  Merwins, 
Fords,  and  Sedgwicks,  descendants  of  old  families,  still  remain 
here,  or  in  the  near  neighborhood,  and  if  the  Pendletons  could  be 
included  in  this  list,  they  would  still  occupy  nearly  all  the  territory 
of  the  Hollow  proper. 

I  have  a  very  pleasant  remembrance  of  the  old  inhabitants  of 
this  Hollow,  and  it  is  not  confined  to  the  limits  of  Cornwall 
merely,  but  embraces  those  portions  of  Goshen,  Norfolk,  and 
Canaan  which  are  adjacent.  The  old  gatherings  for  social  enjoy- 
ment and  religious  worship  come  up  fresh  to  my  recollection,  and 
23 


178  HISTOEY    OF    CORNWALL. 

although  the  retrospect  calls  up  some  memories  of  friends  and 
some  memories  of  incidents  that  "mind  me  of  departed  joys, 
departed  never  to  return,"  yet  it  calls  up  pleasant  memories  of 
pleasant  scenes  enacted,  and  of  pleasant  friendships  formed  and 
enjoyed  here  during  the  early  years  of  my  life,  and  I  now  attempt 
to  execute  a  purpose  I  have  long  entertained,  of  gathering  up  such 
facts  and  incidents,  embraced  in  the  early  history  of  this  portion 
of  Cornwall,  as  are  within  my  knowledge,  and  laying  them  before 
the  present  dwellers  in  this,  to  me,  most  interesting  locality. 
These  facts  and  incidents,  not  important,  it  is  true,  in  the  great 
history  of  the  times  in  which  they  occurred,  but  perhaps  in  some 
degree  interesting  to  those  whose  parents  or  grandparents  were 
active  in  accomplishing  them,  are  fast  passing  into  the  hazy  obscuri- 
ties of  antiquity,  and  will  soon  be  beyond  the  memory  of  living 
men.  So  far  as  they  are  matters  of  record,  they  may  endure;  but 
so  far  as  they  depend  upon  tradition,  they  are  fleeting  and  fugitive. 
I  love  to  dwell  upon  these  scenes  of  early  childhood  and  of  ripen- 
ing manhood.  I  love  to  call  up  the  names  and  persons  of  the  aged 
men  and  women  upon  whose  lips  I  have  hung  in  early  life,  as  they 
have  told  the  story  of  their  experiences  in  the  early  days  of  the 
history  of  this  Hollow.  This  spot,  secluded  as  it  is,  has  not  been 
barren  of  incidents  or  of  names  which  have  marked  it  as  an 
important  locality  in  Cornwall,  and  I  deeply  regiet  that  I  did  not 
take  more  pains,  while  the  facts  were  accessible,  to  preserve  and 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  many  persons  and  incidents  which  are 
now  gone  into  forgetfulness.  Such  as  are  within  my  knowledge  I 
now  proceed  to  lay  before  you. 

This  northwestern  portion  of  Connecticut  was  settled  at  a  much 
later  period  than  any  other  part  of  the  colony.  It  was  nearly  a 
century  after  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  River  had  been  occu- 
pied by  the  English  pilgrims  or  their  descendants,  and  long  after 
that  portion  of  the  colony  adjacent  to  the  sea  had  been  brought 
under  civilized  cultivation,  that  public  attention  was  turned  to  the 
Western  lands,  as  they  were  called.  A  controversy  had  arisen 
between  the  colony  and  the  towns  of  Hartford  and  Windsor  as  to 
the  title  to  these  lands  embracing  all  the  northwestern  part  of 
Litchfield  County,  and  this  controversy  existed  for  several  years, 
and  it  was  not  till  about  the  year  1730  that  this  matter  was 
adjusted  between  these  towns  and  the  colony  by  a  division  of  the 
lands.  The  most  valuable  portions  of  them  were  surveyed  and  laid 
out  into  townships  in  1732,  but  the  towns  of  Norfolk,  Colebrook, 
and  Barkhamsted  were  unoccupied  for  nearly  thirty  years  later. 


CORNWALL   HOLLOW.  179 

The  first  inhabitants  of  this  town  came  in  1738  and  1739,  and  set- 
tled in  the  central  and  western  portions  of  the  town,  taking  up 
their  home  lots,  as  they  were  called,  building  houses,  and  other- 
wise establishing  a  municipal  organization.  This  portion  of  the 
town,  the  Hollow,  seems  not  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
original  proprietors  of  the  town,  as  none  of  them  established  their 
home  lots  here.  Up  to  about  1743  all  the  lands  in  this  locality- 
were  common  and  undivided,  owned  by  the  original  proprietors  of 
the  town,  and  subject  to  a  division  among  them  as  regulated  by 
the  laws  of  the  colony  according  to  the  amount  of  their  interest  in 
them.  On  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  April  of  that  year  (1743), 
Thomas  Orton  of  Farmington  purchased  of  James  Smedley  of 
Fairfield,  one  right  in  the  common  land  in  Cornwall,  including  all 
the  lands  which  had  been  laid  out  on  it,  except  fifty  acres  on 
Cream  Hill,  where  Peter  Mallory  Hved.  Orton  laid  out  most 
of  the  land  on  his  right  in  the  Hollow,  and  he  also  added  to  his 
domains  by  purchase  from  adjoining  proprietors,  some  of  whom 
were  in  Goshen,  so  that  he  finally  owned  a  large  share  of  the  land 
embraced  in  the  Sedgwick  and  Hurlburt  farms,  being  more  than 
one  thousand  acres  of  land.  This  Thomas  Orton  was  the  first 
white  inhabitant  of  Cornwall  Hollow.  His  house  stood  on  the 
high  bank  south  of  the  brook  on  which  Mr.  Merwin's  saw-mill 
stands,  about  sixty  rods  west  of  the  old  Litchfield  turnpike.  The 
site  was  pointed  out  to  me  by  my  father  more  than  sixty  years  ago, 
but  all  traces  of  it  are  now  obliterated.  Orton  remained  in  the 
Hollow  but  two  or  three  years,  when  he  removed  to  Tyringham, 
Massachusetts,  and  was  a  very  respectable  inhabitant  of  that  town 
for  many  years.  Before  leaving,  he  sold  the  greater  part  of  his 
real  estate  here  to  Benjamin  Sedgwick  of  West  Hartfoi'd,  who  was 
the  purchaser  of  the  greater  portion  of  it,  and  the  residue  to  Dr. 
Jonathan  Hurlburt  of  that  part  of  Farmington  which  is  now  the 
town  of  Southington,  and  these  gentlemen  entered  upon  their 
possessions  in  1748. 

The  first  public  highway  by  which  access  was  had  to  the  Hollow, 
was  one  leading  from  Canaan  to  Goshen.  It  passed  over  a  slight 
depression,  in  the  sandy  hills  south  of  the  Wilcox  farm,  along  the 
base  of  a  wooded  hill,  north  of  the  place  where  the  forge  formerly 
stood,  thence  up  a  steep  hill  called — I  know  not  why — Hautboy 
Hill,  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Sedgwick,  now  the  site  of 
Philo  C.  Ledgwick's  house,  thence  up  the  hill  by  Dr.  Hurlburt's 
residence  to  the  west  side  of  Goshen.  Traces  of  this  old  highway, 
through  its  whole  length  to  Goshen  line,  were  very  distinct,  within 


180  HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL. 

my  recollection.  At  the  top  of  the  hill,  above  Hurlburt's,  it  met 
another  highway  leading  from  Goshen  East  street,  by  the  late  Mr. 
Merwin's,  and  thus  communication  was  opened  with  both  parts  of 
Goshen,  east  and  west.  Nearly  all  of  Goshen,  as  it  then  existed, 
was  on  those  two  streets,  there  being  then  but  a  very  few  people  at 
the  Center.  This  was  the  main  thoroughfare  through  the  Hollow 
for  nearly  twenty  years.  The  settlement  of  the  inhabitants,  after- 
wards, on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  the  Hollow  compelled  the 
abandonment  of  this  road  and  the  opening  of  others  near  where 
they  now  run.  The  west  road  by  the  school-house  and  up  the 
Hollow  Hill,  as  it  was  called,  to  the  west  side  of  Goshen,  was  the 
main  avenue  of  travel  until  the  building  of  the  Litchfield  and 
Canaan  turnpike,  in  1799. 

On  the  old  highway  first  mentioned,  Mr.  Sedgwick  and  Dr. 
Hurlburt  erected  their  habitations,  the  former  at  the  place  now 
owned  by  his  great-grandson,  Philo  C.  Sedgwick,  Esq.,  and  the 
latter  at  the  place  now  owned  by  his  great-grandson,  Mr.  Marcus 
Hurlburt.  As  those  gentlemen,  with  their  families,  were  the  only 
inhabitants  of  the  Hollow  for  nearly  six  years,  I  shall  give  as 
minute  sketches  of  them  as  the  material  at  my  command  will 
allow. 

The  first  pilgrim  of  the  name  of  Sedgwick  was  Major  Robert 
Sedgwick,  who  settled  in  Charlestown,  Mass.  in  1637.  He  was  a 
leading,  active  member  of  the  colony  for  nearly  twenty  years. 
"When  Cromwell  came  into  power  in  England,  he  invited  Major 
Sedgwick  back,  and  placed  him  in  command  of  a  body  of  troops 
who  were  to  operate  against  the  French  possessions  in  Nova  Scotia. 
He  returned  to  England,  and  was  immediately  sent  out  with  the 
army  which  was  to  reduce  the  island  of  Jamaica,  under  General 
Venables,  and  in  a  short  time  he  succeeded  Venables  in  the  chief 
command,  with  the  rank  of  major-general.  He  died  of  sickness 
in  Jamaica,  in  May,  1656,  leaving  three  sons,  Samuel,  Robert,  and 
"William.  The  last-named  settled  in  Hartford,  where  he  married 
Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Stone,  colleague  of  the 
celebrated  Thomas  Hooker,  the  first  minister  of  Hartford.  This 
marriage  was  most  unfortunate,  and  the  relation  was  dissolved  m 
a  few  years  by  a  decree  of  the  Court  of  Assistants.  The  only 
fruit  of  it  was  a  son,  Samuel  Sedgwick,  who  was  born  after  the  deser- 
tion of  his  father,  whom  he  never  saw,  and  from  this  son  of 
"William,  born  under  such  circumstances,  have  descended  all  the 
Sedgwicks  whom  I  ever  knew.  He  inherited  some  estate  from  his 
mother,  and  on  arriving  at  maturity  he  became  the  owner  of  a 


CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  181 

valuable  farm  in  West  Hartford,  which  is  situated  about  one  mile 
south  of  the  church  in  that  town.  There  he  raised  a  family 
of  ten  children,  and  died  in  1739.  His  youngest  child  was  Benja- 
min Sedgwick,  who  w^s  born  in  1716,  married  Anna  Thompson  of 
Wallingford,  and  for  awhile  was  a  merchant  in  West  Hartford. 
Thomas  Orton,  whom  we  have  mentioned,  married  a  sister  of  Mr. 
Sedgwick,  and,  in  1748,  sold  to  him  his  lands  here,  as  we  have 
before  stated. 

Mr.  Sedgwick,  having  erected  his  house,  entered  vigorously  upon 
the  clearing  up  of  his  farm,  which  contained  some  six  or  seven 
hundred  acres  of  land  in  Cornwall,  Goshen,  Canaan,  and  Norfolk. 
He  erected  a  saw-mill  on  the  stream  which  passes  through  the 
farm,  at  the  place  where  the  forge  once  stood,  at  the  foot  of  Haut- 
boy Hill,  and  encountered  the  labors,  trials,  and  privations  incident 
to  the  early  opening  of  new  countries  to  civilized  occupation.  The 
forests  in  this  region  were  well  tenanted  by  bears,  deer,  wolves, 
turkeys,  and  other  animals  which  tempt  the  skill  and  adventures  of 
early  settlers,  but  I  do  not  know  that  he  ever  entered,  to  any  great 
extent,  into  these  sports.  One  adventure,  which  was  related  to  me 
by  Samuel  Wilcox,  is  undoubtedly  authentic,  as  Wilcox  knew  him 
well.  He  was  at  work  in  his  saw-mill,  and  heard,  for  several 
hours,  the  barking  of  his  dog  in  the  woods  north  of  him,  and 
when  he  had  completed  his  work,  at  sundown,  he  took  his  axe,  as 
his  only  weapon,  and  sought  the  place  where  the  dog  was  sound- 
ing the  alarm,  and  found  that  he  had  driven  a  large  bear  into  his 
den.  This  den,  which  was  shown  to  me  by  Mr.  Wilcox,  is  about 
forty  rods  north  of  my  late  father's  residence,  and  is  still  in  good 
preservation,  although  somewhat  reduced  in  capacity  by  the 
removal  of  a  part  of  the  stones  which  formed  one  side  of  it,  when 
the  house  built  for  my  late  uncle  Benjamin  was  erected,  in  1809. 
When  Mr.  Sedgwick  came  to  the  aid  of  the  dog,  the  bear  rushed 
from  the  covert  upon  him,  threw  him  down,  and  he  would  soon 
have  fallen  an  easy  prey  to  the  violence  of  the  enraged  animal, 
but  the  dog,  faithful  to  his  master,  seized  him  with  a  fearful  grip 
behind,  which  caused  the  bear  to  turn  upon  the  dog,  and  Mr.  Sedg- 
wick  took  the  opportunity  to  bury  his  axe-blade  in  the  back -bone 
of  the  bear.  Mr.  Sedgwick  died  at  the  early  age  of  42,  He 
was  a  man  of  christian  character  and  profession,  and  was  chosen 
deacon  of  the  church  in  Cornwall  some  time  before  his  death,  and 
he  is  called  Deacon  Sedgwick  in  the  traditions  of  the  Hollow. 
His  death  was  very  sudden,  on  the  7th  of  February,  1787,  from 
apoplexy.     It  occurred  in  the  night.     His  wife,  awakened  by  his 


182  HISTORY   OF   CORNWALL. 

groans,  found  him  in  a  dying  condition,  and  before  the  attendance 
of  Dr.  Hurlburt  could  be  procured,  he  had  ceased  to  breathe. 
His  epitaph  is  concise,  and  very  expressive  of  the  manner  of  his 
death: 

"  In  an  instant  he  is  called 
Eternity  to  view ; 
No  time  to  regulate  his  house, 
Or  bid  his  friends  adieu." 

Of  his  family  1  shall  speak  in  the  sequel. 

Of  Dr.  Hurlburt  my  record  must  be  brief,  as  I  have  only  some 
scraps  of  information  concerning  him.  The  name  of  the  family  is 
ancient  in  our  State,  and,  a  century  ago,  prevailed  extensively  in 
Middletown,  Berhn,  and  Farmington.  Dr.  Hurlburt  came  from  a 
locality  called  Panthorn,  which  is  within  the  present  town  of 
Southington,  then  a  part  of  Farmington,  and  emigrated  to  the 
Hollow  with  Deacon  Sedgwick  in  1748,  having  purchased  a  part  of 
Thomas  Orton's  farm.  His  son,  Ozias,  insisted  that  his  father,  the 
doctor,  was  very  badly  overreached  in  the  bargain.  Whether 
Doctor  Hurlburt  engaged,  to  any  great  extent,  in  medical  practice, 
I  am  not  informed,  but  the  fact  that  he  was  sent  for  when  Deacon 
Sedgwick  was  in  his  extremity,  indicates  that  some  reliance  was 
placed  upon  his  medical  knowledge.  I  have  seen  some  entries 
made  by  him  in  an  old  account  book,  now  in  possession  of  his 
grandson,  Frederick  Hurlburt,  describing  the  constituents  of  sev- 
eral kinds  of  medicine,  which  indicate  that  he  had  a  considerable 
knowledge  of  chemistry  for  those  times.  He  died  in  1779,  at  the 
age  of  79.  He  had  three  sons,  Ozias,  Jacob,  and  Hart,  the  last  of 
whom  died,  when  a  young  man,  of  consumption.  The  tradition 
was,  in  my  early  years,  that  he  had  a  supernatural  premonition  of 
his  approaching  fate,  and  that  an  audible  voice  came  to  him  from 
the  old  grave-yard,  that  his  days  on  earth  were  numbered.  He 
was  always  spoken  of  as  a  most  amiable  and  lovely  young  man. 

Those  two  families,  Sedgwick  and  Hurlburt,  were  the  only  fam- 
ilies residing  in  the  Hollow  for  more  than  six  years.  Their  nearest 
neighbor  in  this  town  was  the  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer,  the  first  min- 
ister of  Cornwall,  who  lived  where  Earl  Johnson  lately  lived. 
The  road  was  opened  to  the  town  street  from  the  Hollow  at  the 
first  coming  of  Orton,  except  that  part  of  it  which  crossed  the 
mountain  range  west  of  the  Hollow.  It  was  nearly  in  the  same 
place  which  it  now  occupies.  The  grade  over  the  hill  has  been 
greatly  improved  within  the  last  thirty-five  years.  Samuel  Oviatt, 
from  Milford,  had  located  himself  in  Goshen,  on  the  hill   above 


CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  183 

Edwin  Merwin's,  where  the  large  stone  chimney  is  still  standing, 
and  even  after  Fowler  Merwin,  also  from  Milford,  while  yet  a  sin- 
gle man,  commenced  clearing  up  the  farm  which  he  occupied  till 
his  death;  but  it  was  not  till  1754  that  any  further  permanent  set- 
tlement was  made  in  the  Hollow.  These  naturally  commenced  on 
the  west  side,  that  being  nearer  the  center  of  the  town  and  more 
inviting,  from  the  general  appearance  of  the  country.  The  road 
from  Goslien  west  side  was  extended  through  to  Canaan  in  1760 
on  the  lay  which  it  now  occupies,  and  that  over  Haixtboy  Hill 
was  naturally  abandoned.  There  was  no  road  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Hollow  for  many  years  from  Canaan  to  Goshen,  and  after  it 
was  built  on  that  side  there  was  a  strong  rivalry  for  the  travel 
between  the  two;  but  it  greatly  preponderated  in  favor  of  the  west 
side  till  the  building  of  the  turnpike,  when  it  turned  the  other  way. 

There  is  a  misty  tradition  that  a  man  of  the  name  of  Abbott 
lived  somewhere  in  the  Hollow  at  a  period  perhaps  somewhat 
earlier  than  1754,  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  locate  his  residence, 
or  to  determine  when  he  left  the  place. 

The  earliest  permanent  settler  in  the  Hollow,  after  Sedgwick  and 
Hurlburt,  was  Solomon  Johnson,  whose  father,  Amos  Johnson,  the 
patriarch  of  all  the  old  Johnson  family  in  Cornwall,  came  from 
Branford  at  the  earliest  settlement  of  tlie  town.  Amos  Johnson 
was  a  large  land-holder,  his  possessions  here  including  all  the  old 
Bradford  farm,  and  he  gave  off  about  fifty  acres  to  his  son  Solo- 
mon, who  built  his  house  where  Mr.  Lyman  Fox  now  lives.  He 
built  a  saw-mill  near  the  school-house,  in  company  with  my  mater- 
nal grandfather,  Jesse  Buel,  and  the  remains  of  this  saw-mill,  and 
of  the  dam,  were  remaining  within  my  recollection.  Johnson 
remained  in  the  Hollow  about  twenty  years,  and  left  in  an  extra- 
ordinary manner.  He  had  become  involved  in  a  lawsuit  with 
Jonah  Case,  who  lived  at  Goshen  west  side,  and  told  his  family 
that  he  must  go  and  see  his  lawyer,  who  was  John  Canfield,  of 
Sharon.  He  left  under  that  pretence,  and  was  never  seen  or  heard 
of  by  them  afterwards. 

I  will  now  speak  of  persons  and  incidents  which  are  within 
my  more  accurate  traditional  or  personal  knowledge,  and  in  giving 
sketches  of  the  old  residents,  it  is  natural  to  begin  with  the  fami- 
lies of  the  first  settlers,  Sedgwick  and  Hurlburt. 

Deacon  Sedgwick  died  in  the  very  maturity  of  his  powers,  at 
the  age  of  42,  leaving  six  children,  three  sons,  John,  my  grand- 
father, Theodore,  and  Benjamin,  and  three  daughters,  one  of 
whom  married  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold,  the  second  minister  of 


184  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Cornwall,  and  who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  leaving  four 
sons,  Thomas,  Thomas  Ruggles,  who  were  eminent  lawyers,  Benja- 
min, the  father  of  Col.  Stephen  J.  Gold,  and  Hezekiah,  the  father 
of  Dr.  Gold.  Hezekiah  was  in  his  very  early  infancy  when  his 
mother  died.  Another  daughter  of  Deacon  Sedgwick  married  the 
Rev.  Job  Swift,  and  became  the  mother  of  a  very  numerous  and 
respectable  family  in  Vermont.  The  other  daughter  married 
Jacob  Parsons,  Esq.,  of  Richmond,  Massachusetts,  who  removed 
to  Broome  county,  N.  Y.,  while  it  was  yet  new,  and  to  a  great 
extent  uninhabited. 

The  second  son  of  Deacon  Sedgwick  was  Theodore,  who  was 
educated  at  Yale  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1765.  I  have 
heard  my  grandfather  say,  that  the  burden  of  his  education  was 
very  heavy  upon  the  family,  but  he  lived  to  obtain  an  eminence 
of  fame  and  honor,  which  satisfied  them  for  all  their  struggles  and 
made  them  happy  in  the  reflection  that  they  had  borne  them.  He 
was  a  member  of  Congress  under  the  old  confederation,  senator 
and  representative  from  Massachusetts  under  the  present  Constitu- 
tion, and  for  one  term  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
He  was  a  tried  and  trusted  friend  of  Washington,  who  relied 
much  on  his  aid  and  counsel  in  setting  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment in  motion  under  the  new  order  of  things.  He  retired  from 
Congress  in  1803,  and  soon  after  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  which  office  he  held  till  his  death 
in  February,  1813.  He  left  four  sons,  all  of  whom  were  respecta- 
ble lawyers,  and  three  daughters,  the  youngest  of  whom,  Catharine, 
still  survives.* 

The  third  son  of  Deacon  Sedgwick  was  Benjamin,  who  first 
settled  in  Goshen,  and  who  built  the  old  house  still  standing  near 
the  west  side  cemetery,  and  there  married  a  Miss  Tuttle.  He 
removed  in  a  few  years  to  North  Canaan  and  became  a  merchant, 
and  built  the  house  which  is  yet  standing,  and  was  lately  occupied 
by  his  son-in-law,  James  Fenn,  Jr.,  about  one  mile  east  of  the  four 
corners.  He  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six,  leaving  one  son 
and  four  daughters,  and  a  handsome  estate  to  his  heirs. 

The  oldest  son  of  Deacon  Sedgwick,  the  late  General  John 
Sedgwick,  spent  his  life  upon  the  old  farm  which  was  his  father's, 
and  reflecting,  I  marvel  at  what  he  accomplished.  He  was  of  the 
age  of  fourteen  years  when  his  father  died,  and  all  he  inherited 

*  Miss  Catharine  Sedgwick  resided  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  and  was  an  authoress 
of  wide  celebrity.     She  died  in  1869.  T.  S.  G. 


.   CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  185 

was  two-sevenths  of  his  father's  estate,  which  was  incumbered 
with  the  support  of  a  young  and  expensive  family.  He  had  this 
advantage  over  his  brothers  and  sisters,  that  by  the  laws  of  inher- 
itance as  they  then  existed  in  this  colony,  in  partial  imitation  of 
the  English  laws  of  primogeniture,  he  received  a  portion  of  the 
estate  of  twice  the  value  of  that  of  each  other  child;  yet  from 
such  slender  beginning,  when  he  had  arrived  to  the  age  of  fifty 
years,  and  before  he  had  divided  ofE  a  portion  of  his  estate  to  his 
children,  he  was  the  owner  of  a  territory  which  extends  from  the 
highway  near  the  school-house,  that  being  his  western  boundary, 
full  two  and  a  half  miles  eastward  into  the  towns  of  Goshen  and 
Norfolk,  and  which  would  average  more  than  a  mile  in  width,  an 
ample  portion  of  which  had  been  brought  under  cultivation  from 
a  state  of  Nature.  He  was  never  in  affluent  circumstances,  the 
whole  income  of  his  farm  being  devoted  to  the  support  of  a  large 
household  and  to  extending  and  improving  his  possessions.  Nor 
did  his  household  consist  of  his  own  family  merely,  but  he 
employed  large  numbers  of  laborers,  who  and  whose  families  were 
fed  from  his  ample  stores — within  my  recollection  there  were,  at 
jne  time,  ten  dwellings,  all  but  one  built  of  logs,  all  inhabited,  in 
the  locality  which  we  call  Meekertown,  and  from  them  issued 
swarms  of  laborers  to  earn  their  daily  bread  by  their  daily  labor, 
and  many  of  these  found  employment  and  keeping  on  the  large 
and  ample  domains  of  General  Sedgwick.  The  table  at  which  he 
presided  reminded  one  of  a  good-sized  country  boarding-house, 
and  the  barrels  of  pork  and  beef,  and  the  immense  piles  of 
vegetables  with  which  his  cellar  was  stored,  resembled  the  supplies 
of  an  army  commissariat.  He  was  a  man  of  very  large  physical 
dimensions,  and  performed  an  immense  amount  of  personal  labor. 
He  was  first  a  captain  and  then  a  major  in  the  army  of  the 
Revolution,  and  after  the  war,  a  brigadier-general  of  militia.  He 
started  to  join  his  regiment  at  Ticonderoga  in  December,  1775, 
and  on  the  first  night  of  his  absence  his  house  was  consumed  by 
fire.  My  father,  his  oldest  son,  then  ten  years  old,  told  me  that 
he  was  called  up  in  the  night  and  informed  that  the  house  was  on 
fire,  and  that  he  awakened  to  such  a  degree  of  consciousness  as 
that  he  remembered  to  have  seen  the  flames  through  a  knot-hole, 
but  overcome  with  drowsiness  he  fell  asleep  again  and  had  nearly 
perished  in  the  flames  before  he  was  rescued.  General  Sedgwick 
was  called  back  by  express,  and  I  have  heard  it  said  that  within 
24 


186  HISTORY   OF   CORNWALL. 

one  week  the   frame   of  a  new  house  was  standing  on  the  site  of 
the  old  one. 

General  Sedgwick  was  a  man  of  strict  religious  principle  and 
possessed  of  undaunted  moral  courage,  never  fearing  to  express 
his  opinion  before  any  audience,  however  large,  and  his  efforts  of 
natural,  unpretending  eloquence  were  sometimes  very  effective. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State  at  twenty-eight 
sessions,  and  took  an  active  part  in  its  deliberations,  and  was  once 
a  candidate  for  Congress.  He  died  in  August,  1820,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-seven  years.  He  had  twelve  children,  eight  of  whom  lived 
to  mature  years,  but  now  they  are  all  gone  to  the  resting-place  of 
man,  and  his  descendants  are  scattered  in  a  wide  dispersion  over 
the  face  of  the  earth.  One  of  his  grandsons,  who  bore  his  honored 
name  and  who  had  acquired  a  national  fame  as  a  gallant  soldier 
and  a  skillful  military  leader,  sleeps  beneath  the  tall  column  which 
rises  amid  the  graves  in  your  beautiful  rural  cemetery,  and  not  the 
stirring  battle  roll  nor  the  martial  trump,  not  the  clash  of  arms 
nor  the  shouts  of  victory  "can  awake  him  to  glory  again." 

It  is  in  order  now  to  speak  of  the  family  of  Dr.   Hurlburt,   as 
they  were  cotemporary  with  that  of  Deacon   Sedgwick.     I  have 
already  stated  all  1  know  of   the  son.  Hart  Hurlburt,   and  that 
was   told   to   me   by  my  mother   nearly  sixty   years   ago.      Dr. 
Hurlburt  had  two  other  sons,  half  brothers,  Ozias  and  Joab,  and 
these  lived  on  the  farm  which  he  left  them.     Ozias  took  the  west 
part  of  the  farm  and  lived  on  the  west  road,  opposite  the  old 
burying  ground.     In  his  early  years  he  was  threatened  with  con- 
sumption, and  never  regained  any  firm  health.     In  view  of  the 
advantages  afforded  him,  he  had  cultivated  his  mind  to  a  remark- 
able degree,  and  was  a  most  interesting,  companionable  man  in 
social   intercourse.      He   united    very   early  with  the  Methodist 
church,  and  frequently  took  part  in  public  religious  services.     He 
was  a  theologian  of  no  mean  acquirements,  and  having  read  many 
of  the  master  works  of  the  old  divines,  was  well  informed  on  the 
most  abstruse  points,  and  could  defend  his  cherished  opinions  with 
much  skill,  and,  I  may  say,  learning.     I   heard  him  say  once,  that 
he  "  should  have  been  a  crazy  man  if  he  had  not  got  shot  of  the 
doctrine  of  election."     He  was  a  believer  in  supernatural  omens. 
Signs  in  the  heavens,  meteoric  phenomena  and  spots  on  the  sun 
were  all  full  of  significance  to  him.     I  once  heard  !iim  say,  that 
he  must  give  it  up  that  a  blazing  star,  as  he  called  a  comet,  was  a 
certain  sign  of  war.     It  so  happened  that  a  comet  came  witliin  the 
reach  of  our  vision  just  before  the  war  of  1812,  and  he  remem- 


CORNWALL   HOLLOW.  187 

bered  that  just  such  an  event  occurred  just  before  the  old  French 
war  and  the  war  of  the  Revokition,  and  his  faith  in  their  premoni- 
tory significance  was  thus  confirmed.  It  ought  to  be  said  that  those 
opinions  were  by  no  means  singular  during  my  childhood;  in  fact, 
they  were  very  common.  He  was  well  versed  in  modern  history, 
especially  in  regard  to  the  wars  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  and 
would  recount  the  exploits  of  dukes,  marshals,  and  generals  with 
much  interest.  He  said  the  battle  of  Fontenoy  was  the  hottest 
battle  ever  fought  under  the  cope  of  heaven.  He  was  also  a  poet 
of  no  mean  pretensions,  as  well  as  a  theologian,  and  towards  the 
close  of  his  life  he  published  a  sermon  and  several  poems,  and  both 
sermon  and  poems  show  abilities  which,  if  cultivated,  would  give 
the  author  a  respectable  position  among  the  v\a-iters  of  the  day. 
He  also  constructed  a  Hudibrastic  poem  in  several  cantos,  descrip- 
tive of  men  and  events  in  Cornwall,  which  excited  much  interest 
in  its  day,  and  which  was  very  ingenious  and  witty.  I  have  heard 
him  repeat  page  after  page  of  it  in  my  childhood,  and  deeply 
regret  that  it  has  gone  out  of  existence.  He  described  most 
humorously  the  proceedings  of  the  town  which  led  the  way  to  the 
removal  of  the  meeting-house  from  the  top  of  the  hill  near  Mr. 
Ford's  to  the  valley  below.  One  measure  to  help  forward  that 
result  was  the  construction  of  a  road  through  the  valley  by  Edmund 
Harrison's,  to  facilitate  communication  between  the  Hollow  and 
the  new  meeting-house.  The  starting  point  was  the  fork  of  the 
roads  near  the  school-house,  and  the  committee  who  laid  the  road 
were  represented  as  deliberating  whether  to  follow  the  old  road 
owned  by  Thaddeus  Ford,  or  to  go  straight  through  the  land  of 
Hurlburt  and  Bradford,  and  their  final  determination  was  thus 

expressed : 

"  We  will  not  go  around  by  Thad.  Ford's, 
But  cut  across  the  farm  of  Bradford, 
And  bend  around  close  by  Ozias, 
For  he  professes  to  be  pious." 

He  spoke  of  several  influential,  ambitious  men  in  the  town  who 
lived  in  separate  sections  and  led  separate  factions,  and  whose  names 
are  familiar  to  elderly  people  present,  as  follows: 

"  Keep  Swift  in  "Warren,  Sedgwick  north, 
And  Patterson  on  water  broth  ; 
Give  Ned  the  power  and  Noah  the  land. 
And  you'll  have  peace  through  all  the  strand." 

It  was  said  that  the  wife  of  a  large  landholder  was  overheard 


188  HISTORY   OF   CORNWALL. 

praying  that  they  might  become  the  owners  of  all  the  land  that 
joined  them,  and  cantos  represented  tier  as 

"  Petitioning  to  the  higher  Powers 
For  all  the  land  that  joins  to  ours." 

If  this  old  poem  had  been  preserved,  I  am  sure  it  would  be  much 
thought  of,  and  read  with  great  interest  by  the  present  generation. 

Mr.  Hurlburt  had  three  children,  Ulysses,  Gilman  H.,  and 
Almira.  Ulysses  was  a  physician  in  West  Stockbridge,  Mass.; 
Gilman  was  a  well-educated,  well-bred,  pohshed  gentleman,  who 
taught  our  school  for  several  winters,  and  afterwards  became  a 
physician  in  Western  New  York,  and  his  father  and  mother  went 
to  reside  with  him  in  1817,  and  there  spent  the  remainder  of  their 
lives.  The  daughter,  Almira,  was  also  a  well-educated  lady,  and 
taught  our  school  for  several  summers.  She  afterwards  became 
the  wife  of  Mr.  Bigelow. 

The  other  son  of  Dr.  Hurlburt  was  Joab,  who  lived  on  the  old 
homestead,  where  his  grandson,  Marcus  Hurlburt,  now  resides. 
He  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-six  years,  and  his  wife  to 
about  the  same  age.  He  was  a  shop-joiner,  manufacturing  plows, 
rakes,  and  such  other  agricultural  implements  as  were  then  in  use 
by  farmers.  He  was  a  man  of  few  words,  seldom  speaking  but  to 
give  brief  answers  to  questions,  but  his  work  was  done  in  the  most 
finished  manner.  He  seldom  smiled,  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
any  one  ever  heard  him  raise  a  loud,  hearty  laugh.  He  had  a 
strong  propensity  to  undervalue  and  underrate  everything  he  had. 
His  tools  were  always  in  perfect  order,  and  yet  he  would  complain 
that  they  were  dull.  He  had  a  field  of  rye  which  3delded  at  the 
rate  of  37^  bushels  per  acre  (probably  the  largest  ever  raised  in 
the  Hollow),  and  when  my  uncle  Benjamin  said  to  him  that  it  was 
a  very  large  yield,  he  said,  "  It  would  have  been  tolerably  good  if 
the  infernal  geese  had  not  eaten  it  all  up."  I  said  to  him  once, 
when  crossing  a  field  of  his  where  a  crop  was  growing,  that  it 
looked  very  promising.  "  It  looks  pretty  well  now,"  said  he,  "but 
I  guess  it  will  all  blast."  In  his  household  he  appeared  to  a 
stranger  to  be  stern,  sullen,  silent,  and  indifferent.  He  had,  however, 
his  good  traits.  In  1816  his  son  Frederick  was  visited  with  a  long 
and  dangerous  sickness,  and  I  frequently  watched  with  him,  and  I 
never  witnessed  a  more  tender  and  afiectionate  solicitude  from  a 
parent  toward  a  sick  child  than  he  exhibited.  He  also  cultivated 
amicable  relations  with  his  neighbors,  and  nobody  could  complain 


CORNWALL   HOLLOW.  189 

of  ill-treatment  from  Uncle  Joab,  as  we  used  to  call  him.  His 
wife  was  a  pattern  of  meek,-  quiet  piety,  and  they  had  a  large 
family.  His  sons,  Frederick  and  Rodney,  are  all  of  them  whom  I 
know  to  be  living. 

A  man  of  the  name  of  Wilham  Tanner  settled  in  the  Hollow  as 
early  as  1755,  on  the  spot  where  Mr.  Bber  Harrison  now  lives. 
He  also  owned  the  Ford  place.  His  father,  of  the  same  name, 
was  from  Rhode  Island,  and  was  in  the  town  at  its  first  settle- 
ment, and  lived  in  the  south  part  of  it.  The  younger  William 
lived  in  the  Hollow  more  than  twenty  years,  when  he  sold  to  Dan- 
iel Harrison  and  Thaddeus  Ford,  and  himself  removed  to  the 
locality  called  Dudleytoion.  From  his  very  large  person,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish him  from  others  of  the  same  name,  he  was  called  Great 
Tanner.  I  saw  him  once  in  his  extreme  old  age,  but  I  had  only  a 
short  interview  with  him,  and  knew  but  a  very  little  about  him. 

The  Harrisons  in  the  Hollow  are  the  descendants  of  two 
brothers,  Daniel  and  Noah  Harrison,  who  removed  into  the  town 
from  Branford,  in  1763.  Daniel  lived  on  the  hill,  where  the  Net- 
tletons  have  since  lived,  and  he  was  the  father  of  Daniel,  Jr.,  Joel, 
and  Luther  Harrison.  He  died  when  I  was  very  young,  and  his 
was  the  first  burial  I  ever  witnessed.  Noah  Harrison,  the  younger 
brother  of  Daniel,  I  remember  very  well.  He  was  the  father  of  He- 
man  Harrison,  deceased,  and  of  Edmund  Harrison,  still  living  at  a 
very  advanced  age.*  The  old  house  which  Noah  Harrison  occupied  is 
still  standing,  and  it  looks  as  it  did  sixty  years  ago.f  Mr.  Harrison 
and  his  son  Heman  occupied  the  farm  on  which  their  descendants 
now  reside.  The  father,  Noah,  was  distinguished  for  his  skill  in 
subduing,  taming,  and  breaking  to  the  yoke  wild  young  cattle. 
We  were  frequently  summoned  over  from  our  side  of  the  Hollow 
to  work  on  the  road  in  that  neighborhood,  the  highway  district 
extending  to  Pond  Brook,  and  on  such  occasions  we  were  fur- 
nished with  a  sumptuous  dinner  at  the  Messrs.  Harrisons,  and  I 
well  remember  how  I  relished  the  baked  Indian  puddings  which 
formed  part  of  the  dinner.  Noah  Harrison  lived  to  a  good  old 
age.  His  son  Heman,  whom  T  have  mentioned,  was  distinguished 
for  his  quiet,  industrious,  thrifty  habits,  and  seemed  to  be  a  timid, 
bashful  man,  very  seldom  speakmg  when  he  was  in  company,  and 
was  seldom  seen  abroad.     He  died  at  a  comparatively  early  age. 

Daniel  Harrison,  the  son  of  Daniel  Harrison  of  whom  I  have 

*  Mr.  Edmund  Harrison  died  in  1866,  aged  98  years  and  4  months.     T.  S.  G. 
t  The  brown  house,  still  standing  but  unoccupied,  near  the  residence  of  Luman 
Harrison.     It  is  the  oldest  house  in  town.  ■  T.  S.  G. 


190  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

spoken,  was  a  man  of  marked  and  positive  character,  which  would 
make  him  a  leading  man  in  any  circle  in  which  he  moved.  He 
seemed  to  have  been  literally  horn  to  command,  and  his  right 
to  that  precedence  was  always  acknowledged  by  his  neighbors.  If 
a  building  was  to  be  moved,  and  long  strings  of  teams  marshaled 
to  do  it,  universal  consent  awarded  the  direction  of  affairs  to  him, 
and  his  stern  and  assuming  demeanor  in  directing  the  movements 
partook  largely  of  the  character  of  imperial  dictation.  He  would 
call  the  men  to  order  by  a  few  smart  raps  upon  the  building  with 
his  ox  goad,  and  woe  to  the  wight  who  was  found  recreant  in  that 
interesting  moment.  When  he  ordered  the  forward  movement, 
his  eye  was  upon  every  part  of  the  performance;  and  when  he 
ordered  a  stop,  forward  movements  instantly  ceased.  Even  down 
to  old  age,  whenever  a  building  was  to  be  moved,  his  services  were 
always  in  demand.  I  have  often  worked  on  the  roads  when  he  had 
command  of  the  gang,  and  it  was  wonderful  to  see  what  entire 
deference  was  paid  to  his  orders.  If  he  said  a  large  rock  was  to 
be  dug  around  and  removed,  all  went  to  work  to  do  it  without 
cavil  or  question.  This  obedience  came  from  deference  to  what 
was  thought  his  superior  judgment.  His  manner,  when  thus  in 
command,  was  stern,  sullen,  dominant.  His  words  were  few  and 
pointed,  and  his  will  was  indomitable.  He  never  retreated  or 
gave  back  a  hair's  breadth  from  any  purpose  he  had  formed.  He 
was  employed  to  draw  building  stone  for  my  grandfather,  and  I 
was  standing  by  a  bar-way  near  the  house,  when  he  attempted  to 
pass  through  with  his  team  and  cart,  very  heavily  laden,  when  the 
hub  of  his  cart-wheel  came  up,  all  standing,  against  a  firmly-set 
bar-post.  "  Pull  away  that  bar-post,"  said  he.  "You  can't  pull  it 
away,"  said  my  grandfather.  "  Yes  we  can  too,"  said  he,  and 
many  stout  hands  seized  it,  and  away  sagged  the  bar-post,  and  on 
went  the  team.  He  thought  this  school  district  had  wronged  him 
in  not  acknowledging  and  paying  a  small  claim  he  had  against  it, 
and  he  declared  he  would  never  attend  another  meeting  in  the 
school-house  till  the  bill  was  paid.  It  was  thought  that  once  when 
his  own  minister,  Mr.  Hawes,  appointed  to  preach  in  the  school- 
house  one  afternoon,  he  would  yield  his  avowed  purpose  and  go  to 
hear  his  minister;  but  he  did  not  attend,  and  I  heard  him  say  in 
reference  to  this  meeting,  that  if  Gabriel  had  appointed  to  preach 
in  the  school-house  he  would  not  have  gone  to  hear  him.  The 
district  finally  yielded,  and  paid  the  bill,  and  then  all  was  right 
again.  I  have  frequently  heard  him  testify  in  court,  and  have 
admired  the  positiveness,  precision,  and  conciseness  of  his  answers 


CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  191 

to  questions  put  to  him  by  counsel.  One  of  the  most  unpleasant 
positions  in  which  a  witness  can  be  placed  is  to  be  called  upon  to 
impeach  character,  and  the  qiiestion  whether  a  man  is  upon  a  par 
for  truth  is  often  evaded,  or  the  answer  so  modified  as  to  be  as 
little  offensive  as  possible;  but  if  you  put  the  question  to  Daniel 
Harrison  he  would  say  ??o,  and  say  no  more.  He  opposed  the 
removal  of  the  meeting-house  in  this  congregational  parish, 
although  it  was  to  be  built  a  mile  and  a  half  nearer  to  him,  insist- 
ing that  good  ecclesiastical  strategy  required  that  the  fort  should 
remain  on  the  frontier.  Having  thus  spoken  of  Mr.  Harrison  in 
regard  to  some  traits  in  his  character,  it  is  pleasant  to  remember 
him  in  others.  He  was  a  man  of  decided  Christian  purpose,  never 
neglecting  public  worship  when  able  to  a.ttend,  and  in  the  absence 
of  a  clergyman,  often  assisting  good  Deacon  Mallory  in  conducting 
the  public  exercise  of  worship.  He  also  attended  and  took  part  in 
social  meetings  in  the  neighborhood,  and  then  his  exhortations  were 
earnest  and  his  prayers  fervent.  If  any  neighbor  got  behind  in 
his  work  through  sickness,  loss  of  team,  or  other  untoward  causes, 
he  was  always  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  in  bringing  his  neigh- 
bor's matters  into  a  prosperous  condition,  and  to  incite  others  to 
do  so.  He  was  remarkably  kind  to  sufferers  in  times  of  sickness, 
and  would  face  any  danger  to  relieve  them.  When  Ebenezer  Jack- 
son was  sick  with  the  small-pox,  of  which  he  died  in  1799,  and 
dismay  and  terror  spread  through  the  town  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
drive  all  the  neighbors  away  to  leave  him  to  his  fate,  Mr.  Harrison 
defied  the  pestilence,  and  went  to  see  him  and  minister  to  his  relief. 
Again,  when  the  spotted  fever  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent  in 
the  town  in  1812,  most  people  avoided  contact  or  intercourse  with 
the  sick,  but  Mr.  Harrison  was  indefatigable  in  ministering  to 
their  wants.  He  was  a  man  of  great  public  spirit,  never  withhold- 
ing his  share  of  labor  or  expense  to  carry  forward  meritorious 
public  objects.  He  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and  pleasant  memo- 
ries of  him  survive  in  the  recollection  of  elderly  people  in  the 
Hollow. 

I  now  come  to  speak  of  the  Wilcox  family,  the  patriarch  of 
whom  was  Samuel  Wilcox,  of  whom  I  have  a  very  distinct  per- 
sonal recollection,  as  he  lived  down  to  1810.  He  was  born  in 
Simsbury  in  1727,  but  his  father  removed  to  G-oshen  as  early  as 
1748,  and  lived  in  Humphrey's  Lane,  near  the  East  street.  The 
name  was  originally  Wilcoxon,  and  was  so  written  in  the  Simsbury 
records  down  to  near  the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  when 
it  was  altered  by  common  consent  to  Wilcox.      He  purchased  in 


192  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

1773  the  place  where  Sylvester  Scovill  now  lives,  and  lived  there 
four  years,  when  he  sold  that  place  to  Timothy  Scovill,  and  pur- 
chased the  farm  at  the  north  end  of  the  Hollow,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  where  his  descendants  now  reside. 
He  mhabited  a  log-house  as  long  as  he  kept  house.  In  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  his  son,  Zadok  Wilcox,  who  had  removed  to  the 
house  on  the  east  side  of  the  Hollow,  which  he  occupied  till  his 
death,  took  the  old  gentleman  into  his  family.  He  was  familiarly 
called  Uncle  Sam,  and  was  a  noted  hunter  and  trapper,  and  the 
latter  years  of  his  life  were  principally  occupied  in  telling  stories 
of  his  adventures  among  these  mountains  in  pursuit  of  bears  and 
deer,  whose  haunts  and  dens  and  lurking-places  were  as  familiar  to 
him  as  the  fields  of  his  own  farm.  He  killed  twelve  bears  during 
the  hard  winter,  as  it  was  called,  in  1780,  as  well  as  very  many 
deer.  These  kinds  of  game,  as  well  as  wild  turkeys,  were  very 
abundant  in  all  these  parts  then.  He  called  his  favorite  musket 
Old  Stagpole,  and  he  kept  it  hung  on  wooden  hooks  in  his  house 
during  his  life.  He  made  all  the  ox-yokes  and  bows  that  were  used 
in  these  regions,  and  they  were  finished  specimens  of  workmanship. 
He  was  a  disbeliever  in  the  Copernican  system  of  astronomy,  and 
could  not  be  persuaded  that  the  world  revolved.  He  was  well 
read  in  the  scriptures,  and  a  strong  believer  in  the  Arminian  sys- 
tem of  divinity.  He  was  a  strong  tory  in  the  revolutionary  war, 
and  I  once  heard  him  say,  "  I  did  not  join  in  this  rebellion  against 
good  old  King  George,"  and  then  he  would  sing  out  in  a  kind  of 
plaintive  intonation,  "  Shame,  British  hoysy  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
using  great  extravagance  in  his  comparisons  and  descriptions.  A 
great  thing  was  as  big  as  the  ocean,  and  a  tall  person  as  high  as 
the  clouds.  If  he  wished  to  speak  well  of  any  thing  or  any  per- 
formance, he  would  say  that  it  was  hloody  good,  or  done  Moody 
well.  I  remember  hearing  him  describe  a  sermon  preached  by 
parson  Bobbins  of  Norfolk,  in  Goshen,  during  the  ministry  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Newell.  His  text  was,  "  I  gave  her  a  space  to  re- 
pent, and  she  repented  not."  Said  he  of  the  preacher,  "He 
stretched  his  little  arms  from  Torrington  to  Canaan  almost,  and  he 
preached  bloody  well."  His  company  was  very  much  sought  by 
the  youth  and  children  to  listen  to  the  numberless  stories  he  could 
tell  of  his  exploits  in  hunting  game  and  killing  rattlesnakes,  some 
hazardous  adventures  of  the  latter  kind  being  frequently  inter- 
mingled in  his  relations.  He  died  from  mere  decay,  at  the  age  of 
ninety  years,  without  any  apparent  distress,  and  I  have  a  very 


CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  193 

pleasant  remembrance  of  my  intercourse  with  him  during  the  years 
of  my  childhood. 

His  oldest  son  was  Zadok  Wilcox,  whose  history  and  character 
ought  to  be  preserved,  and  who  is  remembered  with  much  interest 
by  the  elderly  people  in  the  Hollow.  He  was,  upon  the  whole,  a 
remarkable  man.  His  log-house  stood,  when  I  first  knew  him,  near 
a  great  rock  just  north  of  where  the  brook  comes  close  upon  the 
highway  north  of  the  Pendleton  farm ;  and  there  were  born  to  him 
a  somewhat  numerous  family.  When  the  building  of  the  Litchfield 
turnpike  turned  the  course  of  travel  to  the  east  side,  his  habitation, 
now  standing,  was  there  erected,  and  there  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  days.  He  possessed  remarkable  conversational  powers,  and 
was  the  life  and  soul  of  every  circle  in  which  he  mingled.  His 
educational  advantages  must  have  been  very  limited,  yet  I  never 
knew  a  man  in  common  life  who  could  command  more  appropriate 
and  pertinent  language  to  express  his  thoughts  than  he  could. 
He  possessed  a  loud,  clear  voice,  which  was  heard  above  all  others 
whenever  he  spoke.  His  statements  were  frequently  illustrated  by 
appropriate  anecdotes,  of  which  he  possessed  an  exhaustless  fund, 
and  whenever  he  visited  a  family  circle,  his  leave-taking  was  re- 
gretful to  the  household,  and  he  was  urged  to  prolong  his  stay 
to  the  last  possible  moment.  He  was  the  dentist  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, extracting  all  the  teeth  that  demanded  that  operation.  He 
used  a  darning  needle  to  remove  the  adhesive  flesh  from  the 
doomed  tooth,  and  the  instrument  with  which  he  extracted  it  he 
called  a  hawlc's  hill.  I  remember  he  performed  the  operation  for 
me  when  I  was  quite  a  child,  and  almost  before  I  could  utter  the 
scream  which  the  pain  of  the  pulling  forced  from  me,  he  pro- 
claimed three  times  in  a  loud  voice,  '■'IVs  out,  out,  outf^  He  was  also 
the  great  songster  of  the  neighborhood;  some  of  his  songs  were  of 
a  serious,  sentimental  cast.  Dwight's  Columbia  and  Burns's  Mar- 
iner's Farewell  were  favorites  with  him.  He  also  frequently  sang 
Garrick's  song,  written  in  admiration  of  his  Peggy.  As  this  song 
has  gone  out  of  the  books,  I  will  repeat  a  verse  or  two  as  I  remem- 
ber it  from  his  hps : 

Once  more  I'll  tune  my  vocal  shell, 

O'er  hills  and  dales  my  passion  tell ; 

A  flame  which  time  can  never  quell, 

Still  burns  for  thee,  my  Peggy. 

Yet  greater  bards  the  theme  have  hit, 
And  say  what  subject  is  more  flt. 
Than  to  record  the  sparkling  wit 
And  bloom  of  lovely  Peggy. 
25 


194  HISTORY   OF    CORNWALL. 

While  bees  from  flower  to  flower  do  rove, 
Or  linnets  warble  in  the  grove, 
Or  stately  swans  the  rivers  love, 
So  long  shall  I  love  Peggy. 

I  stole  a  kiss  the  other  day, 
As  she  to  church  was  on  her  way ; 
The  fragrance  of  the  blooming  May 
Is  not  so  sweet  as  Peggy. 

Some  of  his  songs  partook  of  a  coarse  kind  of  wit,  and  were  well 
adapted  to  excite  mirth  and  hilarity,  and  were  heard  with  great 
delisrht.     One  of  these  commenced  with  this  stanza: 

o 

There  was  an  old  woman  in  our  town, 

I  have  heard  some  tell, 
Who  loved  her  husband  dearly, 

But  another  man  quite  as  well. 

He  adopted  the  Protestant  Episcopal  form  of  church  government 
as  the  true  rule,  and  adhered  to  it  during  his  life.  He  made  loud 
and  clear  responses  in  the  public  celebration  of  worship  when  it 
was  conducted  in  that  form,  and  the  ceremony  was  quite  deficient 
of  interest  when  he  was  absent,  which  was  very  seldom;  and  in 
the  choral  exercises  his  voice  was  prominent  and  his  help  indispens- 
able. He  was  a  man  of  good,  placid,  even  temper,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  died  without  an  enemy.  His  decease  was  very  sudden,  from 
apoplexy,  in  1821.  I  called  on  him  about  three  weeks  before  his 
death,  and  I  never  saw  him  in  better  humor  or  in  finer  spirits.  I 
am  told  that  no  grave-stone  mai'ks  his  resting-place.  This  is  not 
creditable  to  his  descendants. 

Another  son  of  Samuel  "Wilcox  was  Joseph  Wilcox,  the  father 
of  Russell  Wilcox,  Esq.  Joseph  Wilcox  lived  many  years  in  the 
Hollow.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  and  his  shop  stood  for  most 
of  the  time  during  his  residence  in  the  Hollow,  nearly  opposite  my 
father's  house.  He  was  a  hard-working,  honest  man,  who  sup- 
ported his  family  well  by  his  labor,  and  brought  them  up  respecta- 
bly. He  removed  to  Canaan  about  1807.  He  was  a  very  obliging, 
accommodating  neighbor,  and  between  our  families  there  was  al- 
ways a  very  neighborly  feeling,  and  the  fiiendships  formed  between 
the  children  of  the  families  have  been  perpetual.  I  remember 
that  my  mother  shed  tears  when  she  parted  with  Mrs.  Wilcox  on 
her  removal  to  Canaan. 

There  was  another  son  of  Samuel  Wilcox  who  must  by  no 
means  be  overlooked.  Sylvanus  Wilcox  was  his  true  name,  but 
common  usage  gave  him  the  name  of   Dr.   Todd.     He  spent  a 


CORNWALL   HOLLOW.  195 

year  in  Vermont  when  he  was  a  young  man,  with  a  physician  by 
the  name  of  Todd,  and  after  his  return  people  commenced,  first  in 
sport,  to  call  him  Dr.  Todd,  and  it  finally  came  to  pass  that  he 
was  known  and  called  by  no  other  name.  I  knew  him  when  he 
was  comparatively  a  young  man.  In  his  latter  days  he  was  always 
the  owner  of  a  good  horse,  which  received  unremitted  care  and 
attention  from  him,  and  of  which  he  was  always  very  proud.  He 
was  social,  agreeable,  and  pleasant  in  his  intercourse  with  his 
friends,  fond  of  music  and  dancing,  and  other  social  pleasures. 
His  last  days  were  clouded  by  untoward  fortunes,  and  are  re- 
membered with  regret,  but  all  who  knew  him  have  a  kind  feel- 
ing for  the  memory  of  Dr.  Todd. 

Captain  Eeuben  Wilcox  was  the  only  son  of  Zadock  Wilcox. 
His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Joshua  Culver  of  Litchfield,  who 
was  noted  through  the  county  for  his  great  physical  power,  and  in 
his  early  life  for  his  desperate  adventures  in  rowd3dsm.  After 
this  statement,  it  is  due  to  Mr.  Culver  to  say,  that  in  his  latter 
years  he  was  a  very  devoted  and  useful  christian.  I  heard  him 
once  deliver  a  discourse  in  Meekertown,  but  I  retain  no  remem- 
brance of  the  style  or  power  of  the  sermon.  Captain  Wilcox  had 
more  of  the  Culver  than  the  Wilcox  in  his  complexion  and  stature. 
He  was  of  a  dark  hue,  very  compactly  built,  of  large  frame,  and 
of  personal  strength  beyond  any  other  man  of  his  time  in  the  Hol- 
low. He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  strength  of  memory,  and  of 
extraordinary  acquirements  for  a  man  of  his  position  in  life.  He 
was  possessed  of  more  historical  facts  regarding  the  men  of  this 
locality,  than  any  other  person  living  here.  He  was  fond  of  the 
society  of  children,  and  was  much  addicted  to  amusing  them  by 
his  anecdotes.  I  remember  he  took  me  with  him  one  day,  when  I 
was  very  young,  to  Walnut  Hill,  where  he  was  getting  out  barrel 
staves,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  having  my  company,  and  I  was 
amused  from  morning  till  night  by  his  interesting  conversation, 
adapted  to  the  capacity  of  a  mere  child.  He  was  free  and  fluent 
in  his  conversation,  wrote  a  very  handsome  business  hand,  and  had 
a  very  good  common-school  education.  His  mind  was  of  a  very 
inquisitive  turn,  and  he  never  gave  up  an  inquiry  till  he  had  pros- 
ecuted it  to  a  complete  solution.  He  has  frequently  asked  me  the 
meaning  of  Latin  and  Greek  sentences  which  he  had  seen  in  mot- 
toes, coats-of-arms,  and  legal  maxims,  and  pursued  the  inquiry 
till  the  whole  matter  was  explained.  He  was  well  versed  in  New 
England  history,  especially  that  part  of  it  which  related  to  the 


196  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

French  and  Indian  wars,  and  when  he  had  obtained  knowledge 
upon  any  point  which  was  new,  was  very  ready  to  communicate  it 
to  others.  He  was  a  man  of  laborious,  industrious  habits,  and  I 
have  spent  many  hours  in  his  shop,  seeing  him  manufacture  bar- 
rels, and  at  the  same  time  keep  up  a  lively  and  interesting  conver- 
sation. His  death,  Hke  that  of  his  father's,  was  very  sudden,  of 
apoplexy.  It  should  have  been  stated  before,  that  he  represented 
the  town  in  the  Legislature  in  1849. 

The  first  settler  on  the  Pendleton  farm  was  Major  Jesse  Buel, 
my  maternal  grandfather.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Deacon  John 
Buel,  the  patriarch  of  the  Litchfield  Buels,  and  a  son  of  Captain 
Jonathan  Buel,  who  Hved  on  the  line  between  Goshen  and  Litch- 
field, a  little  south  of  Deacon  Brooks's  residence.  His  wife  was 
Lydia  Beach,  daughter  of  Deacon  Edward  Beach,  and  she  is  cele- 
brated in  Mr.  Power's  history  of  Goshen  as  the  lady  who  spun  seven 
runs  of  yarn  in  one  day,  and  who  bore  off  the  palm  of  victory 
over  several  competitors.  Her  father,  who  was  my  great-grand- 
father, and  Major  Buel's  mother,  who  was  my  great-grandmother, 
lived  to  within  my  recollection,  and  I  have  seen  them  both.  I 
have  also  seen  my  own  grandchildren,  making  six  generations  in 
one  line  of  descent.  Major  Buel  came  to  the  Hollow  about  1770, 
and  built  the  house  which  stood,  till  within  a  few  years,  near  the 
present  residence  of  Mr.  Yale.  His  children  were  all  born  there. 
He  kept  the  first  tavern  in  the  Hollow,  and  the  large  amount  of 
travel  on  this  route  during  the  Revolutionary  war  made  this  a 
somewhat  lucrative  business.  I  have  heard  my  mother  speak  of 
the  passage  of  a  part  of  Rochamb'eau's  French  army  through  the 
Hollow  in  1781,  on  its  way  from  Rhode  Island  to  Virginia,  to 
assist  in  the  capture  of  Cornwallis.  The  officers  of  high  grade 
obtained  quarters  in  the  tavern  of  her  father,  while  the  main  body 
encamped  in  the  road  and  fields  adjacent.  Major  Buel  remained 
in  the  Hollow  till  1792,  when  he  sold  his  farm  to  Increase  Pendle- 
ton of  Guilford,  and  himself  removed  to  the  south  part  of  Salis- 
bury, his  farm  adjoining  the  town  of  Sharon.  His  wife  Lydia 
died  in  1789,  and  she  is  represented  to  have  been  a  woman  of 
superior  excellence  and  amiability  of  character.  Her  epitaph  is 
tender  and  sweet  to  the  feehngs  of  her  descendants,  who  cherish 
her  memory  with  unqualified  respect  and  veneration: 

Composed  in  mind,  submitted  to 

Tlie  will  of  God  she  dies — 
Bids  all  her  earthly  friends  adieu, 

Assured  in  joy  to  rise. 


CORNWALL   HOLLOW.  197 

Major  Buel  died  in  Salisbury  in  1818,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 
He  was  a  most  amiable,  genial,  and  good-humored  man,  who  had 
many  friends,  especially  among  the  young. 

Mr.  Increase  Pendleton,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  ownership  of 
his  farm,  was  well  advanced  in  life  when  he  came  here,  and  at  my 
remembrance  of  him  his  wife  had  died,  and  he  was  an  old  man, 
living  in  the  family  of  his  son,  William  Pendleton.  He  retained 
the  ownership  of  the  farm  while  he  lived,  his  sons,  William  and 
Joshua,  cultivating  allotted  portions  of  it.  He  was  a  large,  over- 
grown, sluggish  man,  who  would  occasionally  walk  up  and  down 
the  road,  with  staff  in  hand,  and  was  very  apt  to  be  out  when  the 
crops  were  divided  between  himself  and  his  sons.  His  daughter 
Julia,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Uri  Merwin,  lived  with  him,  and 
appeared  to  care  for  him  with  all  proper  attention.  His  sons 
William  and  Joshua  were  active,  stirring  men,  who  raised  large 
famihes.  Joshua  removed  to  the  West  many  years  ago,  but  Wil- 
liam remained  here  during  his  life. 

Thaddeus  Ford,  from  Guilford,  whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  Abra- 
ham and  Oliver  Hotchkiss,  lived  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a  little  west 
of  the  residence  of  his  son,  the  late  Samuel  Ford,  and  within  a  rod 
of  the  old  school-house.  He  also  erected  a  small  building  in  the 
gorge  of  the  hills  above  him,  in  which  he  had  an  apparatus  for 
running  a  spinning-wheel  by  water-power,  and  there  I  have  wit- 
nessed the  operation  of  a  female  drawing  off  the  threads  from  a 
distaff  of  flax  with  both  hands,  at  a  very  rapid  rate.  Mr.  Ford 
was  a  man  of  decided  opinions  and  purposes,  and  had  his  own 
peculiar  way  of  expressing  them.  He  had  a  peculiar  kind  of  ges- 
ture, with  closely-clinched  fingers  and  extended  thumb,  and  when- 
ever the  neighbors  undertook  to  repeat  his  assertions,  they  would 
accompany  the  recital  by  an  imitation  of  his  gesture.  He  some- 
times made  in  the  carelessness  of  his  emotions  curious  blunders  in 
the  inversion  of  syllables  and  the  misplacing  of  words.  I  remem- 
ber once  to  have  heard  him  finding  fault  with  the  manner  in 
which  William  Pendleton  had  constructed  a  box  for  the  deposit  of 
the  ashes  made  at  the  school-house,  and  intending  to  say  ash-hox, 
he  called  it  ax-bosh,  and  his  thumb  was  out  when  he  said  it.  He 
had  two  sons,  Zerah  and  Samuel,  both  of  whom  died  in  this  town, 
and  his  wife  and  several  daughters  died  of  consumption. 

The  last  of  the  old  settlers  in  the  Hollow  was  John  Bradford, 
who  came  here  from  that  part  of  New  London  which  is  now  Mont, 
ville,  in  1783,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war.     He  was  a 


198  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

direct  lineal  descendant  of  the  Pilgrim  Governor  Bradford  of  Ply- 
mouth colony.  He  hved  where  his  grandson,  Fowler  Bradford, 
now  resides,  having  purchased  the  farm  of  Amos  Johnson.  He 
was  a  very  quiet,  retired,  affable  man,  always  very  neat  in  his  per- 
son and  dress,  and  much  given  to  a  dry  kind  of  waggery  and 
story-telling,  which  would  call  out  a  jolly  laugh  from  bystanders. 
He  was  very  fond  of  telling  anecdotes,  and  would  entertain  any 
social  circle  by  his  pleasant  humor  and  salient  jokes.  He  attended 
all  the  religious  meetings  of  the  different  denominations  who  cele- 
brated their  worship  here,  and  I  never  heard  a  profane  or  vulgar 
word  from  his  lips.  His  only  son,  James  F.  Bradford,  who  lived 
where  his  son-in-law,  Lyman  Fox,  now  lives,  was  a  man  of  quicker 
movements  and  more  personal  activity  than  his  father.  If  he 
called  on  a  neighbor  on  business,  he  was  always  in  a  hurry  to  have 
it  accompHshed,  and  he  would  be  off  in  a  twinkling  as  soon  as  it 
was  done.  He  was  of  untiring  industry,  and  very  successful  in 
acquiring  property. 

I  might  extend  these  imperfect  sketches  of  individuals  to  an 
indefinite  length,  but  they  would  be  of  persons  well  known  to 
many  present,  and  would  protract  this  talk  to  an  interminable 
prolixity.  I  have  spoken  of  every  man  I  remember  to  have  been 
a  householder  here  sixty  years  ago. 

The  first  school-house  in  the  Hollow  stood  at  the  foot  of  Ford 
Hill,  as  we  used  to  call  it,  on  the  road  leading  westerly  from  the 
late  residence  of  Samuel  S.  Ford.  It  stood  directly  in  front  of 
the  house  of  Thaddeus  Ford,  and  it  seems  to  me  within  one  rod 
of  it;  so  near,  at  least,  that  much  of  the  conversation  in  the  family 
could  be  heard  distinctly  in  the  school-house.  I  now  remember 
but  two  of  my  old  schoolmates  who  now  reside  in  the  Hollow, 
who  attended  school  with  me  in  that  school-house,  to  wit,  Eber 
Harrison  and  Olive  Cowles  (now  Mrs.  Reuben  Wilcox).  The 
Baldwins,  Ithamar,  Noah,  and  Wilham,  and  Stephen  How,  are 
the  only  other  survivors  of  those  who  attended  school  there  that  I 
now  remember.  The  school-district  then  extended  to  Canaan  line, 
north  of  Deacon  Nettleton's,  and  embraced  the  families  of  Joel  and 
Luther  Harrison  and  Joseph  Cowles.  After  the  school-house  had 
been  removed  to  the  place  which  it  now  occupies,  the  gentlemen 
just  named  took  measures  to  be  annexed  to  the  Cream  Hill  district, 
and  an  earnest  controversy  was  had  in  the  town-meetings  on  the 
question  of  their  being  set  off.  I  well  remember  the  close  and  earn- 
est canvass  which  was  made,  and  the  drumming  up  of  voters  in  the 


CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  199 

Hollow  to  resist  the  application,  as  well  as  the  chagrin  and  disap- 
pointment which  prevailed  when  the  town  voted  to  set  off  the  ap- 
plicants according  to  their  request.  My  uncle  Benjamin  was  the 
collector  of  the  tax  which  was  levied  to  build  the  new  school-house, 
and  a  lawsuit  to  test  the  legality  of  his  levy  on  the  property  of  Joel 
Harrison  was  tried  before  the  Superior  Court  at  Litchfield.  The 
levy  was  sustained  by  the  judgment  of  the  court. 

The  school-house  which  stood  till  within  a  few  years  on  the  site 
of  the  present  house,  was  built,  I  think,  in  1804.  I  am  told  that 
the  district  records,  which  would  fix  the  date  precisely,  are  lost. 
The  first  and  last  clerk  of  the  district  whom  I  knew  in  that  oflBce, 
was  James  F.  Bradford,  and  the  first  moderator  of  a  school-meet- 
ing at  which  I  was  present,  was  Ozias  Hurlbut.  The  teachers, 
whose  school  I  remember  to  have  attended  in  the  old  school-house 
at  the  foot  of  Ford  Hill,  were  Dr.  Everest,  whose  father  lived  in  the 
South  Society,  my  uncle  Roderick  Sedgwick,  Gilman  Hurlburt, 
Almira  Hurlburt,  and  Clarissa  Steele.  The  first  school  in  the  new 
house  was  kept  by  Henry  Baldwin.  Miss  Steele  kept  the  last 
school  in  the  old  house,  and  the  first  summer  school  in  the  new. 
Her  subsequent  history  was  eventful.  In  the  summer  of  1806 
she  was  employed  to  keep  the  school  on  Canaan  Mountain,  and 
there  a  maniac  of  the  name  of  Isaac  Baldwin  attempted  to  assasi- 
nate  her  in  the  school-house,  after  she  had  dismissed  her  school 
for  the  day.  He  belonged  to  Litchfield,  was  of  a  highly  respecta- 
ble family,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  CoUege  of  the  class  of  1801. 
He  seems  to  have  entertained  a  passionate  fondness  for  Miss  Steele, 
which,  in  his  state  of  mental  derangement,  she  could  not  recipro- 
cate, and  in  desperation  determined  to  take  her  life.  He  entered 
the  school-house  at  the  close  of  the  school,  and  with  a  knife  in- 
flicted several  dangerous  wounds  upon  her  face  and  neck,  nearly 
cutting  oif  the  lower  part  of  an  ear,  but  her  resolute  resistance, 
and  the  coming  in  of  two  or  three  women  whom  her  cries  had 
alarmed,  prevented  the  consummation  of  his  purpose.  She  lin- 
gered a  long  while  between  life  and  death  at  the  house  of  Joshua 
Munson,  and  finally  recovered  a  tolerable  degree  of  health.  She 
had  been  an  inmate  of  my  father's  family,  and  went  from  our 
house  to  the  Mountain  school.  I  went  to  see  her  two  or  three 
days  after  she  was  injured,  and  found  her  under  the  care  of  _Dr. 
Humphrey  of  Norfolk,  a  young  physician  who  had  just  commenced 
practice.  Soon  after  her  recovery  she  became  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Humphrey,  but  she  lived  but  a  little  more  than  two  years  after  her 


200  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

marriage  with  him.  I  was  living  in  Norfolk  at  the  time,  and 
was  present  at  her  bedside  when  she  breathed  her  last.  Baldwin 
fled  to  the  mountain  north  of  the  school-house,  but  was  arrested 
within  twenty-six  hours  after  he  had  attempted  to  take  the  life  of 
Miss  Steele.  I  remember  to  have  seen  him  in  a  day  or  two  there- 
after on  his  way  to  Litchfield  on  horseback,  under  the  care  of 
Sheriff  Landon,  with  his  hands  pinioned  behind  him.  He  was 
tried  for  the  act,  but  was  acquitted  on  the  ground  of  insanity,  but 
was  kept  in  confinement  till  his  father  removed  to  the  West  and 
took  him  with  him. 

About  the  year  1780  General  Sedgwick  erected  a  forge  on  the 
stream  which  runs  through  the  east  side  of  the  Hollow  just  above 
where  it  enters  the  meadow  lands,  and  there  grew  up  a  small 
business  hamlet.  Large  quantities  of  iron  were  manufactured 
from  the  Salisbury  ore,  and  two  dweUing-houses  were  erected  near 
the  forge,  which  afforded  accommodations  for  several  families  of 
the  operators.  A  shoemaker's  shop  was  also  built,  where  that 
business  was  carried  on  'by  Benjamin  Palmer,  who  came  to  the 
Hollow  from  Barkhamsted.  This  last  mentioned  building  was 
occupied  one  summer  for  a  neighborhood  school,  which  was  kept 
by  Mrs.  Bierce,  wife  of  Joseph  Bierce,  who  was  also  a  shoemaker, 
and  lived  in  one  of  the  houses  in  the  hamlet.  This  school  I  at- 
tended, being  then  probably  about  seven  years  of  age.  Joseph 
Wilcox  here  erected  his  first  blacksmith's  shop  and  commenced 
working  at  his  trade,  which  he  followed  many  years,  and  also  oc- 
cupied, with  his  family,  one  of  the  houses  I  have  spoken  of.  He 
afterwards  removed  his  shop  and  changed  his  dweUing-house  up 
the  hill  to  the  turnpike  road,  directly  opposite  my  father's,  and 
kept  it  in  operation  till  1807,  when  he  removed  to  Huntsville,  or 
Ireland,  as  it  was  then  called.  This  shop  was  a  great  place  of  re- 
sort for  the  men  of  the  neighborhood  on '  rainy  days,  and  all  the 
common  topics  of  the  day,  public  and  private,  received  ample  dis- 
cussion and  appropriate  criticism.  After  Mr.  Wilcox  removed  to 
Canaan  the  shop  was  carried  on  by  Dudley  Henderson,  afterwards 
of  Goshen,  and  when  he  gave  it  up  the  blacksmith's  business  in 
the  Hollow  ceased  to  be  prosecuted.  The  forge  was  destroyed  by 
fire  in  1803,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  and  the  buildings  which 
stood  around  it  gradually  disappeared,  and  not  a  vestige  of  any  of 
them  now  remains. 

General  Sedgwick  also  erected  a  grist-mill  on  the  same  stream, 
about  sixty  rods  above  the  forge,  which  did  a  good  business  ac- 


CORNWALL    HOLLOW.  201 

cording  to  the  extent  of  its  accommodations,  there  being  but  one 
pair  of  stones  in  it.  I  have  heard  my  grandfather  say  that  it 
yielded  him  one  hundred  bushels  of  grain  annually  clear  of  all  de- 
ductions. The  house  built  for  the  miller  was  the  first  built  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Hollow,  which  stood  in  Cornwall.  As  early  as 
1770  Jeremiah  Harris  had  built  a  house  over  the  Goshen  line 
where  Mr.  Lawton  lately  lived,  and  owned  a  farm  of  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  acres.  He  sold  this  to  General  Sedgwick  in 
1783.  The  farm  contained  all  the  land  which  was  owned  by  ray 
uncle  Henry,  now  owned  by  Erastus  Merwin,  which  lies  in  Goshen, 
and  extends  around  the  saw-mill  pond,  and  up  to  the  hill  east  of 
it.  The  first  miller  was  a  Mr.  Ensign,  the  next  was  Theron  Beach, 
uncle  of  the  late  Theron  Beach,  Esq.,  of  Litchfield,  who,  when  the 
mill  was  still  for  want  of  custom,  used  to  weave  cloth  for  the 
neighbors,  his  loom'  standing  in  the  upper  loft  of  the  mill.  The 
miller's  house  was  the  one  occupied  by  Joseph  Wilcox  after  he 
removed  up  the  hill,  and  was  much  enlarged  by  him. 

The  next  house  after  the  miller's,  erected  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Hollow,  was  the  one  erected  by  my  grandfather  for  my  uncle 
Heni-y,  and  it  is  the  one  now  owned  by  Erastus  Merwin,  Esq. ;  and 
in  that  house  I  was  born,  my  father  and  mother  living  in  the  same 
house  with  his  brother  while  their  house  was  being  built.  My 
iincle  Henry  kept  a  tavern  for  several  years,  and  in  his  house  all 
the  dancing  parties  were  held  which  I  ever  knew  of  in  the  Hollow, 
and  they  were  not  infrequent  in  my  early  days.  The  next  house 
on  that  side  was  that  erected  for  my  father,  and  next  to  that  the 
house  by  the  saw-mill,  which  were  all  on  that  side  till  the  Wilcox 
family  removed  their  habitations.  General  Sedgwick  apportioned 
to  each- of  the  three  sons  I  have  mentioned,  John,  my  father,  and 
Henry,  more  than  one  himdred  acres  of  land,  and  built  a  new 
house  and  barn  for  each.  The  mill  of  which  I  have  spoken  was 
carried  off  by  a  freshet  in  1805-6.  The  immediate  cause  of  its 
destruction  was  the  breaking  away  of  the  saw-mill  dam  above  it. 
A  heavy  rain  produced  such  a  pressure  upon  the  dam  that  it 
yielded,  and  the  rush  and  roar  of  the  waters  was  terrible.  The 
turnpike  bridge,  a  small  saw-mill  which  had  been  erected  by  my 
uncle  Henry,  and  the  grist-mill,  were  all  borne  off  like  a  feather 
upon  a  gale  of  wind.  The  millstones,  which  weighed  more  than  a 
ton  each,  were  carried  more  than  twenty  rods,  and  deposited  in  the 
bottom  of  the  stream.  In  1816  they  were  purchased  by  Captain 
Jonah  Lawrence,  of  North  Canaan,  and  placed  for  use  in  a  mill 
which  he  built  that  year. 
26 


202  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

General  Sedgwick  also  erected  a  saw-mill  on  the  spot  where  that 
owned  by  Mr.  Merwin  now  stands,  before  the  comnaencement  of 
the  present  century.  This  mill  stands  in  Goshen,  within  a  rod  of 
the  line,  but  the  house  attached  to  it  is  in  Cornwall.  This  mill, 
from  my  earliest  memory,  was  under  the  care  of  Jephtha  Merrills, 
a  man  of  singular  habits,  and  of  a  certain  kind  of  drollery,  which 
gave  him  a  considerable  notoriety.  He  was  the  most  perfect 
mimic  I  ever  saw.  He  would  imitate  to  striking  perfection  the 
voices  of  men,  women,  and  beasts,  and  could  set  off  by  droll  descrip- 
tions anything  and  everything  that  fell  under  his  observation. 
He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Eevolution,  and  was  at  the  battle  of  Long 
Island,  and  exposed  to  all  the  perils  of  the  retreat  to  and  from 
New  York,  and  I  have  often  been  entertained  by  his  graphic 
descriptions  of  the  scenes  of  those  trying  days.  His  manners  and 
deportment  were  in  strong  contrast  with  those  of  his  wife,  who  was 
a  mother  in  Israel — one  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth. 

There  was,  from  my  earliest  recollection,  a  small  local  congrega- 
tion of  Episcopalians,  who  had  stated  worship  after  the  forms  of 
that  denomination,  either  in  the  Hollow,  or  in  the  next  neighbor- 
hood above  in  Canaan.  The  meetings  were  generally  held  at  the 
school-house,  but  during  one  summer  they  were  held  at  Joseph 
Wilcox's,  and  during  one  winter  they  were  held  at  Zadock 
Wilcox's.  They  were  conducted  by  a  lay  reader  called  Deacon 
Howe,  although  I  am  not  aware  that  he  ever  held  that  office. 
Occasionally,  the  priest  from  Litchfield  would  visit  them  and 
administer  the  sacrament,  and  the  service  was  kept  up  as  long  as 
Deacon  Howe  was  able  to  carry  it  on,  and  before  he  gave  it  up  he 
was  assisted  occasionally  by  Captain  Reuben  Wilcox.  I  became 
so  familiar  with  that  form  of  worship  as  contained  in  their  ritual, 
by  attending  those  meetings,  that  I  have  retained  it  ever  since, 
and  when  I  worship  with  Episcopalians  I  can  anticipate  every 
successive  change  in  the  service.  I  believe  the  Episcopal  worship 
has  not  been  celebrated  in  the  Hollow  for  many  years. 

The  Methodist  circuit  preacher  visited  this  locality  at  a  very 
early  period.  The  only  early  Methodists  in  the  Hollow  were  Ozias 
Hurlburtand  his  wife,  Joshua  Saunders  and  his  wife,  and  the  wife 
of  Joab  Hurlburt;  but  on  the  hills  of  Goshen,  adjacent,  there 
were  several  families  of  that  order,  and  the  meetings  were  well 
9,ttended.  But  the  principal  supply  of  preaching  at  the  Methodist 
meetings  was  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Christie,  a  local  preacher,  who  for 
many  years  held  stated   religious  services  in  the  Hollow  and  its 


CORNWALL    1I(»L1>0\V.     '  203 

• 

vicinity.  Mr.  Christie  lived  where  the  late  Henry  Baldwin  lived, 
and  was  a  tailor  by  trade.  He  was  the  son  of  an  officer  in  the 
British  army  who  came  to  this  country  in  the  time  of  the  old 
French  war,  and  I  have  heard  him  say  that  he  was  born  in  Albany, 
where  his  father  was  then  stationed.  Sometimes,  and  most  of  the 
,  time,  the  meetings  were  held  at  the  school-house,  sometimes  at  the 
house  of  Ozias  Hurlburt,  and  during  one  summer  at  the  house  of 
David  Smith,  at  the  Hollow  Hill  in  Goshen.  The  minister  received 
frequent  contributions  as  the  reward  of  his  labor,  and  the  rich  west- 
side  farmers,  Lieut.  Riley,  Philo  CoHins,  and  Thomas  Beach,  were 
not  stinted  in  their  donations.  Mr.  Christie  was  a  man  .of  moder- 
ate abilities  as  a  preacher,  but  was  of  an  excellent  spirit.  His  ser- 
mons were  without  method  or  point,  but  his  prayers  were  free, 
fluent,  and  fervent,  and  he  is  entitled  to  a  grateful  remembrance 
by  the  people  of  the  Hollow^  for  honest  service  and  faithful  labor. 
He  removed  to  Ohio  in  1837. 

The  Congregationalists  in  the  Hollow  did  not  number  very 
strong  in  the  early  years  of  this  century.  There  was  occasionally 
a  conference  meeting,  and  the  only  persons  whom  I  remember  as 
taking  part  in  them  were,  my  grandfather,  Mr.  Daniel  Harrison, 
and  Mr.  Ichabod  Howe.  Mr.  Hawes,  Congregational  pastor  of 
N  orth  Cornwall,  occasionally  held  service  at  Mr.  Harrison's,  but 
the  principal  meetings  of  that  order  were  at  the  center  of  the 
parish. 

Nearly  fifty  years  ago  stated  meetings  were  commenced  here  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Talmadge,  a  Baptist  clergyman,  who  was  a  good, 
sound,  sensible  preacher,  and  whose  labors  were  well  adapted  to 
advance  the  cause  of  religion  and  sound  morals  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  enterprise  of  this  worthy  denomination  was  such  that 
they  erected,  many  years  ago,  a  beautiful  house  of  worship,  and  it 
is  among  tlie  most  pleasant  incidents  of  my  visiting  the  Hollow 
during  these  later  years,  that  I  can  know  that  so  appropriate  a 
place  has  been  provided,  and  that  evangelical  christian  worship  is 
constantly  maintained.  Christian  ordinances  are  the  best  conser- 
vators of  public  morals. 

I  have  now  accomphshed,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  do  it,  the  pur- 
pose I  undertook  in  gathering  up  some  historical  facts  and  inci- 
dents relating  to  the  neighborhood  in  which  I  was  born.  I  am 
well  aware  that  the  work  has  been  very  imperfectly  done.  Very 
few  of  my  old  acquaintances  remain  to  assist  in  bringing  up  to 
memory  the  scenes  of  other  days,  or  the  men  of  other  times.     It  is 


204  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

nearly  fifty  years  since  I  ceased  to  have  a  home  among  jow,  and 
you  must  be  well  aware  that  great  changes — perhaps  more  notice- 
able to  me  than  to  you  who  have  remained  here — have  taken  place 
here  during  the  currency  of  that  period.  The  face  of  nature,  it  is 
true,  is  unchanged.  The  same  sun  still  comes  up  from  behind  that 
spur  of  the  Green  mountain  range  that  came  up  fifty  years  ago, 
and  looking  at  his  fair  face  to  day,  I  do  not  perceive  that  he  has 
grown  dim  with  age  during  that  period.  The  same  mountains  still 
lift  their  summits  to  the  storms  and  defy  the  thunderbolts,  and 
the  same  beautiful  streamlets  reflect  the  moonbeams,  and  fertilize 
the  valley;  but  in  other  respects  the  changes  and  vicissitudes 
which  mark  the  progress  of  human  afEairs  toward  the  final  consum- 
mation of  all  things  are  going  forward  here  as  they  are  elsewhei-e. 
Be  these  changes  what  they  may,  or  how  they  may,  I  shall  never 
cease  to  cherish  with  fond  emotions  the  memory  of  my  early  expe- 
rience in  this  pleasant  locality,  and  to  say  from  the  heart : 

O,  give  me  back  my  native  liills, 

Rough,  rugged  though  they  be, 
No  other  clime,  no  other  land 

Is  half  so  dear  to  me. 
The  suu  looks  bright,  the  world  looks  fair, 

And  friends  surround  me  here ; 
And  memory,  brooding  o'er  the  past, 

Gives  home  its  tribute  tear.  '  , 

Though  far  from  home,  the  heart  may  still 

Reflect  surrounding  light, 
"When  stranger  smiles  enkindle  love, 

And  stranger  hearts  delight ; 
Yet,  oh,  they  call  the  memory  back, 

As  meteor-like  they  glide, 
To  tell  how  kind  our  early  friends, 

How  dear  our  old  fireside. 

My  native  hills,  still  dear  to  me 

Wherever  I  may  roam, 
With  lofty  pride  and  cherished  love, 

I'll  think  of  thee,  my  home. 
For  rooted  in  thy  rock-bound  sides 

The  noblest  virtues  grow, 
And  beauty's  choicest  flowers  are  cuU'd 

From  out  thy  highland  snow. 

Then  give  me  back  my  native  hills, 

Rough,  rugged  though  they  be, 
No  other  clime,  no  other  land 

Is  half  so  dear  to  me. 
Affection's  ties  around  my  home 

Like  ivy  tendrils  twine, 
My  love,  my  blessings,  and  my  prayers, 

My  native  hills,  are  thine. 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  205 


SOLDIERS  OP  THE  REVOLUTION. 

I  cannot  give  even  the  names  of  many  of  our  revolutionary 
heroes,  but  brief  reminiscences  of  a  few  are  here  presented. 

Phineas  Hart  was  a  pensioner;  lived  to  about  eighty  years;  when 
over  seventy,  walked  a  Journey  in  one  week  of  over  three  hundred 
miles.  He  lived  and  died  at  a  house  on  the  Canaan  road,  a  little 
north  of  James  Reed's. 

Capt.  Edward  Rogers, 

the  father  of  Col.  Anson  Rogers,  was  an  officer  both  in  the  French 
and  Revolutionary  wars.  He  held  a  captain's  commission  during 
the  latter.  He  was  a  man  of  good  judgment,  genial  manners,  and 
kindness  of  heart.  Whilst  he  lived  his  house  was  ever  open,  and 
made  welcome  to  the  old  soldiers,  some  of  whom  might  almost  be 
said  to  have  lived  there.  A  copy  of  his  will,  now  before  me,  dated 
April  27,  1 757,  bequeathing  £100  to  his  five  sisters,  and  the  residue 
of  his  estate  to  his  brother  Noah,  was  made  as  stated  when  he  "  was 
bound  on  the  expedition  against  the  French."  With  such  a  docu- 
ment in  hand,  we  realize  the  dangers  of  our  forefathers.  He  was  a 
country  merchant,  a  farmer,  a  manufacturer;  he  had  a  potashery 
in  Cornwall,  and  made  potash  in  1775,  as  the  books  show  in  the 
purchase  of  ashes  and  the  sale  of  potash,  and  long  engaged  in  both 
military  and  civil  service.  His  papers,  still  in  possession  of  his 
descendants,  show  his  abundant  labors,  and  in  lack  of  a  complete 
list  of  soldiers  furnished  by  Cornwall,  we  give  a  mileage  list  of 
his  company,  also  an  alarm  list,  which  is  marked  as  Capt.  Rogers's 
company,  though  the  names  of  other  captains  are  attached  to  it. 
Some  erasures  and  some  additions  on  the  list  as  here  printed,  in 
different  ink,  indicate  it  as  having  done  duty  for  some  time.  This 
contains  all  the  names  on  it: 

An   Abstract  of  the   Milearje   of   Capt.  Edward  Rogers'  Company  in 

late  Col.  F.  Gay's  Regiment,  returning  at  the 

end  of  the  campaign. 

men's  names. 
Edward  Rogers,  Capt., 
Natlimiii'l  Hamlin,  Lieut., 
IIi-'zli.  Aiiilrc'ws,  Lieut., 
Jorl  llininaii,  Eusign, 
Joshua  Parmele,  Sergt., 
Wm.  Avery,  do., 

Jacob  Williams,     do., 
Simeon  Barns,       do., 
Timothy  Doughty,  Drummer, 
Samuel  Darrow,  Fifer, 


MILES 

DISCHARGED 

AT 

RETURNING   TO 

dist't. 

North  Castle, 

Cornwall, 

77     £0 : 

;0  : 

,5 

do., 

Sharon, 

77 

(!: 

5 

do., 

Canaan, 

87 

7: 

3 

do., 

Woodbury, 

55 

4: 

7 

do.. 

Cornwall. 

77 

(i: 

5 

do., 

Sharon, 

77 

(J: 

5 

do.. 

Canaan, 

87 

7: 

3 

do., 

Woodbury, 

55 

4: 

7 

Philipsborough, 

Sharon, 

83 

(!: 

11 

Norwalk, 

Canaan, 

70 

5: 

10 

206 


HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 


men's  names. 
Timothy  Knapp,  Corporal, 
C4ershom  Dormon,    do., 


Daniel  Harris, 
John  Denimin, 
Solomon  Emmons, 
Francis  Brown, 
Timothjr  Rowley, 
Joseph  Brown, 
Daniel  Harrison, 
James  Wilson, 
John  White,  Sen., 
James  Sterling, 
Ichabod  Brown, 
Benj'n  Carrier, 
Roswel  Fuller, 
Aaron  Brownell, 
Samuel  Partridge, 
David  Whitney', 
William  Fellows, 
Peter  Tooley, 
Asa  Cole, 
Ebenezer  Pardee, 
Nehemiah  Smith, 
Asa  Smith, 
John  Whitney, 
George  White, 
David  Lawrance, 
Uriah  Williams, 
John  Curtice, 
Luke  Rowland, 
Jonathan  Blinn, 
Samuel  Franklin, 
Elisha  P'orbhs, 
John  Cusehoy, 
Lewis  Ilurd, 
Solomon  Reynolds, 
Simeon  Rood, 
Timothy  Johnson, 
David  Franklin, 
Andrew  Coe, 
•  David  Douglass, 
John  White,  2d, 
Samuel  I^amson, 
Elnathan  Knapp, 
Daniel  Co(m, 
Cornelus  Hamlin, 
Thomas  Hamlin, 
William  Robinson, 
Joel  Jackson, 
Asa  Hamlin, 
Sluman  Abels, 
Peter  Pratt, 
David  Simons, 
Gamaliel  Pardee, 
David  Hicock, 
Adam  Wagner, 
Daniel  l^itter, 
Nathan  Bristol, 
Ephraim  Herrick, 
Justus  Johnson, 
Lemuel  Gillet, 
James  Daley, 
William  Jakways, 
Samuel  Sirdam, 
Isaac  Cool, 
Samuel  Williams, 


do. 
do.. 


DISCHARGED  AT 

Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
do., 
do., 
do., 
do., 
do., 
Norwalk, 
Philipsborough, 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
Philipsborough, 
North  Castle, 
do., 
do., 
do., 
do., 
Norwalk, 

do., 
Dead. 
Noiwalk, 

do.. 
North  Castle, 
do., 
do., 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
Norwalk, 

do.. 
North  Castle, 

do.. 
Dead. 
North  Castle, 

do., 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
Dead. 

North  Castle, 
in  Captivity. 
North  Castle, 
Dead. 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 

do., 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
I'hilipsborough, 
North  Castle," 
Philipsborough, 
Norwalk, 
North  Castle, 
do., 
do., 
do., 
do., 
do., 
Dead. 

in  Captivity, 
Norwalk, 
do., 
do., 
North  Castle. 


MILES. 

RETURNING   TO 

dist't. 

Cornwall, 

60 

5:   0 

Sharon, 

77 

6:   5 

Canaan, 

70 

5:10 

Woodbury, 

.55 

4:   7 

Cornwall, 

77 

6:   5 

do.. 

77 

6:   5 

do., 

77 

6:   5 

do.. 

77 

6:   5 

do.. 

77 

6:   5 

do.. 

60 

5:   0 

do.. 

83 

6:11 

do., 

60 

5:   0 

do., 

77 

6:   5 

Canaan, 

93 

7:   9 

do., 

87 

7:    3 

do., 

87 

7:   3 

do.. 

87 

7:   3 

do., 

87 

7:   3 

do.. 

87 

7:    3 

do.. 

70 

5 :  10 

do.. 

70 

5:10 

Canaan, 

70 

5  :  10 

do.. 

70 

5:10 

do.. 

87 

7:   3 

do.. 

87 

7:   3 

do.. 

87 

7:   3 

do.. 

70 

5:10 

do.. 

87 

7:   3 

do., 

70 

5:10 

do.. 

70 

5:10 

do.. 

87 

7:   3 

do.. 

87 

7:   3 

Woodbury, 

55 

4:   7 

do.. 

55 

4:    7 

do.. 

40 

3:    4 

do.. 

55 

4:    7 

Woodbury, 

55 

4:   7 

Sharon, 

77 

6:   5 

Sharon, 

60 

5:    0 

do.. 

77 

6:   5 

do.. 

77 

6:   5 

do., 

60 

5:   0 

do.. 

77 

6:   5 

do.. 

60 

5:    0 

do.. 

77 

6:    5 

do.. 

83 

(i:ll 

do.. 

77 

6:    5 

do.. 

83 

6:  11 

do.. 

40 

5:    0 

Woodbury, 

55 

4:    7 

do.. 

55 

4:    7 

do.. 

65 

4:   7 

do.. 

55 

4:   7 

do.. 

55 

4:   7 

do.. 

55 

4:    7 

Canaan , 

70 

5:10 

do.. 

70 

5:10 

do., 

70 

5  :10 

do., 

87 

7:   3 

A  list   of  the  Nuniber   and  Names  of  such  as   are  of  the  Alarm  List 

who  have  their  abode  withiti  the  Limits  of  the  fourth  Company  or 

Trainband  in  the  IJfih  Regiment  in  the  Htate  of  Connecticut : 


Col.  Hcman  Swift, 
Capt.  Thos.  P()i-t('r, 


Elijali  Hopkins, 
Joiiiitliiui  Crockci-, 


James  McClary, 
Nc'licniiali  Barslry, 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 


207 


Lieut.  Ebenczer  Dibble, 
Lieut.  jMatt.  Patterson, 
Eiisi<>u  Benoni  Peek, 
Abraham  Payne, 
James  Barse, 
Thos.  Dean, 
Ilezekiali  Carter, 
David  Limlsly, 
Samuel  Sawyer, 
John  Millard,  Jr., 
Peter  Rumer, 
John  Carter, 
John  Sprague, 


Cornwall,  17th  March,  1777. 


Elnathan  Patterson, 

Silas  Clark, 

Sherman  Patterson, 

Kitchel  Bell, 

Hezekiah  Barse, 

Samuel  Bassett, 

Josiah  Patterson, 

John  Dibble,  2d, 

Samuel  Sawyer, 

John  Dibble,  3d, 

Sele  Abbott, 

Timothy  CJole, 

Job  Sinunons, 

Noah  Bull. 

Jesse  Ji;rrards, 

38  in  number. 

Rufus  Payne, 

— 

John  Mcilannah, 

33 

Samuel  A1  il)ott, 

38 

Jethro  Bonnev, 

— 

Al  )el  Abbott, ' 

74     Capt.  Rogers's 

Company 

pr.  Joshua  Pierce, 

Capfaiii  of  the  Company. 
Capt.  Rogers. 


'The  subjoined  order  for  teams  shows  that  the  pressure  of  mili- 
tary necessity  was  felt  even  among  our  hills : 

These  Lines  are  to  Sertify  all  whom  it  may  Conserne  that  I  the  Sub- 
scriber was  sent  by  Mr.  Isaac  Bauldwin  A.  D.  Qt.  to  Edward  Rogers  with 
a  desir  for  him  to  Procure  ten  teames  in  this  Place  to  tranceport  one 
Hundred  Barrels  of  Hower  to  Litchfield  on  next  Sabooth  Day  if  the 
teams  Cannot  be  procured  no  other  way  they  must  be  pressed. 

pr.  Jos.  Gkeooky. 

Cornwall,  April  9,  1779. 

The  following  Act  of  tlie  General  Assembly,  found  among  the 
same  papers,  shows  the  pressing  necessities  upon  the  country  at 
that  time,  in  a  clearer  light  than  I  can  in  any  other  way: 

At  a  General  AssevMy  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  holden  at  Hartford,  (by  special  Order  of  his  Excellency  the 
Governor,)  on  the  7th  Bay  of  April,  A.  B.  1779. 
An  Act  for  ascertaining  the  Quantity  of  Grain,  Flour  and  Meal  in  this 

State,  and  thereof  to  make  provision  for  an   immediate   Supply  of 

Bread  for  the  Army,  and  the  necessitous  Inhabitants  of  the  State,  and 

for  securing  other  necessary  Articles  for  the  Army-. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Governor,  Council  and  Representatives,  in  General 
Court  assembled,  and  by  the  Authority  of  the  same.  That  an  exact  account 
shall  be  taken  of  the  number  of  persons  belonging  to  each  family  in  this 
State,  and  of  the  quantity  of  wheat,  meslin,  rye  and  Indian  corn ;  and  of 
all  the  flour  and  meal  made  of  such  grain,  in  the  possession  of  every 
person  in  this  State,  in  manner  following,  viz. :  That  the  Select-Men  in 
each  town  by  themselves,  or  such  persons  as  they  shall  appoint,  shall, 
by  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  April  instant,  give  warning  in  writing  or 
otherwise,  to  all  the  heads  of  families  and  otlier  persons  in  their  towns,  to 
make  and  return  to  them,  on  or  before  the  sixth  day  of  May  next,  a  true 
account,  under  oath,  (or  affirmation  if  of  the  people  called  Quakers,)  of 
all  the  wheat,  meslin,  rye  and  Indian  corn,  and  of  all  the  flour  and  meal 
made  of  such  grain,  which  they  have  in  their  possession,  and  to  whom 


208  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

the  same  belongs,  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  April  aforesaid ;  and  also 
an  exact  account  of  the  number  of  persons  each  family  consists  of,  on 
penalty  that  each  jjcrson  who  refuseth  to  give  a  true  account  of  his  or 
her  grain,  ilour  and  meal,  as  aforesaid,  shall  forfeit  to  and  for  the  use  of 
this  state,  double  the  value  of  such  grain  and  meal  as  any  sucli  person 
hath,  and  is  found  to  be  possessed  of  on  said  twenty-ninth  day  of  April, 
and  also  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds  lawful  monej^  to  be  recovered 
by  bill,  plaint  or  information,  which  oath  shall  be  in  the  form  following, 
viz. : 

"You  A.  B.  do  swear,  (or  affirm)  that  this  return  by  you  made,  con- 
tains a  just  and  true  account  of  all  the  wheat,  meslin,  rye,  Indian  corn, 
flour  aiid  meal,  made  of  either  of  said  kinds  of  grain,  you  had  on  the 
twenty-ninth  day  of  April,  1779,  in  your  possession,  being  either  your 
own,  or  the  property  of  any  other  person,  and  the  number  of  persons  of 
Avhich  your  family  consists,  according  to  the  best  of  your  knowledge. 
So  helj)  you  God." 

Which  oath  may  be  administered  by  an  Assistant  or  Justice  of  Peace, 
or  any  Select-Man,  within  the  town  to  which  he  belongs.  That  the 
Select-Men  of  each  town,  by  themselves  or  such  person  or  persons  as 
they  shall  appoint,  shall  receive  said  accounts  so  returned,  and  enter 
them  in  a  book,  or  roll,  keeping  each  fiimily  and  its  number  of  jjcrsons, 
with  the  kinds  and  quantities  of  such  grain,  flour  and  meal  returned,  as 
the  stores  of  each  tamily,  or  on  hand,  in  distinct  columns ;  and  of  all 
persons  having  such  grain,  flour  or  meal  in  possession  at  the  time  afore- 
said, with  the  footing  of  the  sum  total  of  the  inhabitants,  and  of  each 
kind  of  the  aforesaid  grain,  flour  and  meal  in  each  town,  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  day  of  April  instant;  and  such  book  or  roll  so  made  up,  shall  be 
lodged  with  the  town  clerk  in  such  town,  by  the  tenth  day  of  May  next, 
and  a  true  return  of  the  sum  total  of  such  inhabitants,  and  of  each  kind 
of  such  grain,  flour  and  meal  aforesaid  in  each  town,  shall  by  the  Select- 
Men  beuiade  from  the  footings  of  rolls  aforesaid,  entered  hi  separate 
columns  according  to  the  form  hereto  annexed,  and  transmitted  to  his 
Excellency  the  Governor,  by  the  fifteenth  day  of  May  next. 

That  an  allowance  of  one  bushel  of  wheat,  or  five  pecks  of  meslin,  or 
one  bushel  and  a  half  of  rye,  or  two  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  or  flour  or 
meal  equivalent,  shall  be  reserved  in  the  hands  of  the  possessors,  for 
each  person  in  their  families  per  month  respectively,  until  the  twenty- 
ninth  day  of  August  next,  for  their  subsistence.  And  such  owners  and 
possessors  of  such  grain,  flour  and  meal  on  hand  on  said  twenty-ninth 
day  of  April,  more  than  the  aforesaid  allowance,  for  their  families  use  for 
the  time  aforesaid,  shall  stand  accountable  to  the  Select-Men  of  their 
respective  towns  for  the  same,  and  not  dispose  thereof,  unless  to  the 
Continental  or  State  Commissaries,  or  to  such  persons  as  by  a  certificate 
of  the  town-clerk,  or  in  his  absence,  of  any  one  of  the  select-men  of 
the  town  where  they  dwell,  appear  to  be  deficient  of  the  quantity  of 
such  grain,  flour  and  meal,  for  support  of  their  respective  families,  as 
also  the  quantity  that  is  necessary  for  that  pui-pose,  until  the  first  day  of 
Auu'ust  aforesaid.  And  whoever  shall  otherwise  dispose  of  the  same, 
or  any  part  tiiereof,  or  shall  refuse  to  render  an  account  thereof  to  the 
select-men  when  required,  shall  forfeit  the  value  of  all  such  grain,  flour 
and  meal,  refused  to  be  disposed  of  or  accounted  for  as  aforesaid ;  one 
half  thereof  to  the  town  treasurer  of  the  town,  where  such  grain  is  found, 
and  the  other  half  to  him  who  shall  sue  for,  and  prosecute  the  same  to 
eff"ect,  in  any  court  proper  to  try  the  same. 

And  in  case  any  owner  or  possessor  of  any  sucli  grain,  flour  or  mesil, 
more  than  is  wanted  for  his  own  tamily,  by  the  allowance  aforesaid,  will 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  209 

not  sell  to  any  continental  or  state  commissary,  or  his  agent,  at  a  reason- 
able price,  such  commissary  or  agent  may  immediately  apply  to  an  as- 
sistant or  justice  of  peace,  who  shall  grant  a  warrant  directed  to  any 
proper  person,  to  enter  any  house  or  store,  and  seize  and  take  from  such 
refusing  owner  or  possessor,  all  such  grain,  flour  and  meal,  in  his  or  her 
hands,  "over  and  above  the  allowance  made  by  this  act,  and  deliver  the 
same  to  such  commissary,  taking  a  true  account  thereof,  to  be  laid  before 
the  General  Assembly,  to  be  considered  and  allowed  as  they  shall  judge 
just  and  reasonable ;  and  such  commissary  shall  thereupon  pay  for  the 
same  accordingly. 

And  any  person  who  shall  be  in  want  of  any  such  grain,  flour  or  meal 
as  aforesaid  for  his  families  use,  may  take  a  certificate  from  the  town- 
clerk,  or  in  his  absence  from  any  one  of  the  select-men  of  said  town 
where  he  belongs,  of  the  quantity  in  which  he  is  deficient,  which  shall 
be  a  sufficient  warrant  to  him  to  purchase  the  quantity  therein  specified, 
on  the  back  of  which  certificate,  shall  be  endorsed  the  quantity  of  grain 
purchased,  and  of  whom,  and  shall  be  returned  to  the  town-clerk,  and 
such  persons  receipt  left  with  him,  of  whom  he  shall  purchase,  shall  be 
good  accounting,  by  the  seller,  for  such  quantity  of  grain  sold  as  afore- 
said. And  whenever  any  such  certificate  shall  be  given  by  any  select- 
man as  aforesaid,  he  shall  forthwith  lodge  a  memorandum  thereof,  in  the 
town-clerks  oflice ;  and  the  select-men  of  any  town  deficient  in  supplies 
of  such  grain  or  meal  as  aforesaid,  may  take  a  certificate  from  their  town- 
clerk  of  their  deficiency,  and  the  same  shall  be  a  warrant  to  them,  to 
purchase  of  such  persons  and  in  such  town,  as  have  to  spare,  and  cause 
the  same  to  be  disposed  of  to  such  persons  as  are  deficient  therein,_and 
shall  have  power  to  transport  the  same  by  the  most  convenient  carriage, 
to  their  own  towns,  giving  bond  to  the  treasurer  of  the  town  from 
whence  transported,  in  double  the  value  of  the  grain,  flour  and  meal  by 
them  so  transported,  to  be  forfeited  to  and  for  the  use  of  such  town,  in 
case  the  whole  of  such  grain,  flour  and  meal  be  not  disposed  of  for  the 
purpose  aforesaid. 

And  he  it  further  enacted  Iry  the  Authority  aforesaid^  That  when  any 
purchasing  commissary,  for  the  continent  or  state,  shall  have  occasion  for 
rum,  molasses,  sugar,  coft'ee,  or  other  supplies  and  refi-eshments,  necessary 
for  the  continental  or  state  troops,  and  cannot  purchase  the  same,  at  a 
reasonable  price,  of  such  person  or  persons  as  may  have  the  same  on 
hand,  such  commissary  shall  make  information  thereof,  as  also  whose 
hands  such  articles  are  in,  to  any  assistant  and  justice  of  the  peace,  or  to 
any  two  justices  of  the  peace,  who  shall  consider  thereof,  and  if  they  judge 
it  reasonable,  shall  grant  a  warrant,  directed  to  some  proper  oflicer,  to 
enter  any  house  or  store,  seize  and  take  such  quantity  as  they  shall  judge 
sufficient,  and  deliver  the  same  to  such  commissary,  taking  his  receipt, 
and  a  true  account  thereof,  and  such  warrant  shall  be  returned  to  the 
authority  granting  the  same  by  such  officer  with  his  doings,  and  a  list 
of  the  goods  taken  and  defivered  by  virtue  thereof,  truely  indorsed 
thereon,  and  an  account  of  such  goods,  with  the  expence  of  seizing  and 
delivering  the  same  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  laid  before  the  General  Assem- 
bly as  soon  as  may  be,  to  be  adjusted  and  allowed  as  they  shall  judge 
just  and  reasonable,  and  such  commissary  shall  pay  for  the  same  ac- 
cordingly. 

And  le  it  further  enacted  ly  the  Authority  aforesaid^  That  it  shall  be, 
and  is  hereby  enjoined  on  the  commissaries,  and  all  other  persons  what- 
soever, to  stop,  take,  and  seize  all  such  grain,  flour  or  meal,  as  they  shall 
find  in  the  hands  of  any  person  or  persons,  conveying  or  transporting 
the  same,  by  land  or  water,  out  of  this  state,  without  a  special  permit 

27 


210  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

from  the  General  Assembly  therefor,  or  from  his  Excellency  the  Governor 
and  Council  of  Safety,  and  the  same  being  so  seized  and  stopped,  shall 
be  reported,  with  the  facts  and  circumstances  attending  the  same,  to  his 
Excellency  the  Governor,  and  Council  of  Safety,  and  be  liable  to  such 
orders  and  directions  as  they  shall  give  thereon,  any  law  of  this  state 
notwithstanding.  Provided  nevertheless.  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall 
be  construed  to  prohibit  any  licenced  tavern-keeper,  or  victualler,  from 
purchasing,  or  retaining  in  his  or  her  possession,  such  supplies  as  the 
select-men  shall  judge  necessary  for  the  use  of  his  or  her  tavern.  Pro- 
vided also,  that  masters  and  owners  of  vessels,  may  purchase  such  neces- 
sary stores  for  the  use  of  such  vessels,  having  regard  to  the  number  of 
men,  and  the  length  of  the  voyage  intended,  as  his  Excellency  the  Gov- 
ernor and  his  Council  of  Safety  shall  allow,  and  grant  them  a  licence  to 
purchase  for  that  purpose. 

And  ie  it  further  enacted  hy  the  Autlwrity  aforesaid,  That  if  the  select- 
men, in  any  town  in  this  state,  or  any  of  them,  shall  neglect  or  refuse  his 
or  their  duty,  in  executing  the  trust  reposed  in  them  by  virtue  of  this 
act,  each  select-man,  so  neglecting  or  refusing,  shall  forfeit  as  a  penalty,  to 
the  treasury  of  this  state,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  lawful  money, 
to  and  for  the  use  of  this  state ;  to  be  recovered  by  bill,  plaint,  or  infor- 
mation, in  any  court  proper  to  try  the  same.  And  the  select-men  and 
town-clerk  of  each  town  shall  be  allowed  a  meet  reward  for  their  services, 
by  their  respective  towns.  And  this  act  shall  ha  and  remain  in  full  force 
until  the  first  day  of  August  next,  and  no  longer. 

And  all  suits  that  may  then  be  depending  for  the  breach  of  this  act, 
may  be  pursued  thereon  to  final  judgment  and  execution.  And  the 
form  in  which  said  returns  shall  be  made  from  the  select-men  to  the 
town-clerk,  and  from  the  town  clerk  to  his  Excellency  the  Governor, 
shall  be  as  follows,  viz.  : 

A  true  Copy  of  Record, 
Examin'd,  by 

GEORGE  WYLLYS,  Secretary. 

Gen.  John  Sedgwick. 

Gen.  John  Sedgwick  was  an  officer  in  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. He  was  superseded  by  Col.  Heman  Swift,  which  offended 
him  to  such  a  degree  that  he  resigned  his  commission  and  retired 
from  the  army.  He  was  a  brave  and  good  officer.  For  many 
years  he  represented  the  town  in  the  legislature.  Although  his 
early  education  was  defective,  his  natural  good  sense  enabled  him 
to  discharge  the  various  duties  of  public  and  private  life  in  which 
he  was  actively  engaged  in  a  very  creditable  manner.  As  a  magis- 
trate he  was  remarkable  in  leading  contending  parties  to  an  amic- 
able settlement.  For  many  years  he  discharged  the  duties  of 
School  Visitor.  To  the  scholars  whom  he  inspected  General  Sedg- 
wick was  always  an  object  of  much  interest.  His  stalwart  form, 
shaggy  eyebrows,  with  the  frank,  familiar,  and  kind  manner  with 
which  he  was  accustomed  to  address  them,  attracted  their  atten- 
tion, won  their  confidence  and  esteem  to  the  highest  degree,  and 


GEN.  JOHN  SEDGWICK. 

Born    1742.     Died   August   18, 
1820. 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  211 

many  a  little  fellow,  for  the  first  time,  was  induced  to  commence 
on  a  course  of  honorable  manhood  by  his  kindly  persuasiveness 
and  appropriate  suggestions  which  flowed  out  of  his  large  heart 
and  superior  mind.  General  Sedgwick  was  a  man  of  piety.  His 
passions  were  naturally  strong,  but,  subdued  by  moral  principle, 
and  guided  by  an  excellent  understanding,  made  him  one  of  the 
kindest  of  men  in  all  the  social  relations  of  life. 

A  true  friend,  kind  and  affectionate  in  manner,  a  peace-maker, 
and  given  to  hospitality,  his  memory  will  be  cherished  with  vene- 
ration by  all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance.  As  in  stat- 
ure and  physical  strength  he  excelled  his  fellows,  in  moral  quali- 
ties he  was  equally  unrivaled.  He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven  years,  and  his  remains  repose  with  those  of  the  other  mem- 
bers of  his  family  in  the  old  Cornwall  Hollow  Cemetery. 

Anecdotes  illustrating  his  Herculean  strength  and  resolute  cour- 
age are  abundant.  One  of  his  oxen  once  slipping  from  the  yoke 
left  the  half -loaded  cart  in  the  mire.  He  took  the  place  of  the  ox 
at  the  yoke,  sajring,  "  I  will  have  it  go;  whip  up  that  other  ox," — 
and  it  went.  Hunting  bears  on  the  back  side  of  Cream  Hill — the 
bear  came  out  of  the  cleft  in  the  rock  where  he  watched,  and 
astride  him  he  rode  some  ways  down  the  mountain  before  the  bear 
was  suMued. 

His  energy  at  the  time  of  Shays's  Rebellion,  in  1787,  saved  our 
county  from  participation  in  the  affair. 

Shays's  Rebellion. 

Theo.  Sedgwick  of  Great  Barrington,  wrote  under  date  of  May 
13,  1787,  to  his  brother  Col.  John  Sedgwick  of  Cornwall,  Conn., 
that  the  followers  of  Shays  were  depending  on  much  assistance 
from  New  York,  Vermont,  and  Connecticut,  and  especially  boasted 
of  receiving  aid  from  Sharon  and  vicinity,  and  he  asks  if  there  is 
no  power  in  Connecticut  to  stop  these  scoundrels. 

Thereupon  (the  same  day,  May  13th)  Col.  John  Sedgwick  issued 
orders  to  his  regiment,  the  14th  Mihtia,  to  hold  themselves  in  readi- 
ness to  march  at  a  moment's  notice  to  prevent  all  disturbances; 
that  in  no  case  must  citizens  be  allowed  to  assist  the  rebels  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  orders  Parsons  and  Day  to  be  arrested,  who  are 
leaders. 

He  appears  also  to  have  informed  Gen.  Heman  Swift  of  the 
facts,  who  investigated  the  matter  so  promptly  as  to  be  able  to 
write  to  Gov.  Huntington,  at  Hartford,  May  15th,  to  this  eifect:  That 


212  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Col.  Sedgwick  had  acted  as  above  in  order  to  let  the  disturbers  of 
tbe  peace  know  that  their  plans  are  discovered ;  that  many  men, 
particularly  in  Sharon  and  Norfolk,  had  formed  connection  with 
Shays;  that  one  Mitchell  is  employed  in  that  service  in  Sharon;  that 
he  (Swift)  had  just  sent  a  "man  of  sagacity  and  prudence  "  to 
Sharon,  who  had  approached  Mitchell  and  made  him  believe  he 
was  friendly,  and  Mitchell  disclosed  to  him  his  whole  plan  of  ope- 
rations, and  said  he  had  enhsted  100  men  in  Sharon  as  minute 
men,  to  support  Shays,  who  were  now  completely  equipped  and 
ready  to  march  at  the  shortest  notice,  but  the  whole  organization 
was  secret;  that  Drs.  Hurlburt  and  Barns  were  Mitchell's  advisers, 
who  were  insurgents  from  Berkshire,  and  had  fled  from  justice 
there,  and  were  harbored  in  Sharon ;  also,  that  one  Captain  Tanner 
from  Spencertown,  N.  Y.,  had  been  pubhcly  forwarding  recruiting 
in  Sharon,  and  that  the  disaffected  people  in  Berkshire  were  con- 
stantly passing  and  repassing  to  and  from  Sharon.  Swift  says  he 
had  been  obliged  to  act  in  secret,  for  the  movement  was  very  popu- 
lar, and  he  was  regarded  as  "a  speckled  bird"  for  opposing  it. 

The  Governor  laid  this  at  once  before  the  Assembly,  who 
ordered  Col.  Canfield  to  come  at  once,  and  gave  him  authority  to 
arrest  Mitchell,  Tanner,  Hurlburt,  Barns,  and  such  others  as  should 
be  thought  necessary,  and  the  governor  was  authorized  to  order 
Gen.  Swift  to  call  out  some  or  aU  the  mihtia  under  his  control,  if 
necessary,  to  stop  the  insurrection  and  prevent  their  joining  the 
Massachusetts  insurgents. 

Canfield  acted  so  promptly  and  carefully  as  to  be  able  to  get  to 
Sharon  and  make  the  arrests  and  put  those  men  in  jail  before  they 
knew  any  design  to  that  effect  was  on  foot. 

This  from  State  Archives  at  Hartford,  in  State  Library. 

CoL.  Ethan  Allen. 

Ethan  Allen  was  the  son  of  Daniel  Allen,  who  resided  in  Corn- 
wall,  and  though  it  does  not  appear  that  Col  Allen  was  born  here, 
yet  most  of  his  boyhood  was  spent  here,  and  we  rightly  claim 
some  share  in  the  honor  which  attaches  to  his  name.  The  resi- 
dence of  his  father  was  on  the  corner  south  of  the  North  Corn- 
wall Church,  a  large  old  house  torn  down  about  1830.  Many  sto- 
ries are  told  of  his  youthful  spirit,  indicating  the  man  of  firm 
resolve  and  undaunted  purpose. 

Colonel  Allen  held  a  commission  in  the  army,  and  by  his  bold 
daring  and  laconic  demand  obtained  the  surrender  of  Ticonderoga 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  213 

and  Crown  Point.  He  was  afterwards  taken  prisoner  and  sent  to 
England,  where  he  was  for  some  time  confined  in  the  Tower  of 
London.  The  British  found  him  such  a  difficult  case  to  manage 
,  on  account  of  the  influence  he  exerted  over  the  masses  of  the 
English  metropolis,  by  communications  which  he  made  and  con- 
trived to  send  out,  though  kept  closely  confined  in  prison,  that 
they  desired  to  send  him  back  to  America.  He  wore  the  same 
Continental  uniform  through  the  whole  period  of  his  imprisonment 
in  England  which  he  had  worn  in  the  American  service.  Of  course 
it  was  in  a  soiled  and  dilapidated  condition — on  which  no  "busy 
housewife  "  had  "  plied  her  evening  care"  for  many  a  long  month. 
But  this  circumstance  did  not  break  down  the  spirit  of  Allen.  He 
was  sent  under  the  charge  of  a  hard  and  cruel  oflicer,  who  treated 
him  with  the  greatest  severity.  He  was  not  allowed  to  come  on 
deck  in  presence  of  the  British  officers.  The  ship  in  which  he 
sailed  had  occasion  to  put  into  a  port  in  Ireland,  and  when  it  became 
noised  about  that  Colonel  Ethan  Allen  was  aboard — he  who  was 
the  famous  champion  of  American  liberty — the  great  Irish  heart, 
wliich  then,  as  now,  beat  in  unison  with  his  in  the  cause  of  freedom, 
and  in  opposition  to  British  tyranny,  rallied  around  him,  much  to 
the  annoyance  of  the  officers  who  had  him  in  charge.  They  pre- 
sented Colonel  Allen  with  a  new  uniform,  many  articles  for  his 
comfort,  of  nice  luxuries,  and  a  purse  of  fifty  guineas.  The  luxu- 
ries were  distributed  among  the  ship's  crew  by  the  captain.  The 
purse  of  gold  was  nobly  declined  by  Colonel  Allen.  The  uniform 
he  too  plainly  needed  to  decline. 

Gen.  Heman  Swift. 

Gen.  Heman  Swift  came  from  Kent,  about  the  year  1764-5, 
and  settled  on  the  road  from  Sharon  to  Warren  and  Litchfield, 
about  half  a  mile  southeast  up  the  hill  from  the  residence  of  his 
son,  the  late  Rufus  Swift,  Esq.  His  mind  was  strong,  and  he  pos- 
sessed an  uncommonly  sound  judgment,  for  which  he  was  much 
more  distinguished  than  for  brilliancy  of  imagination.  He  was 
also  distinguished  for  firmness  and  decision  of  character.  He  was 
a  man  of  strict  integrity.  Early  in  life  he  was  selected  by  his  fel- 
low-citizens for  pubhc  service,  both  in  a  military  and  civil  capacity. 
He  was  an  officer  in  the  old  French  war,  and  in  the  Continental 
army,  having  received  a  colonel's  commission  over  Major  John 
Sedgwick,  which  circumstance  created  a  momentary  excitement, 
and  the  major  resigned  his  commission  and  retired  from  the  army. 


214  HISTOEY    OF    CORNWALL. 

But  this  breach  of  good  feeling  did  not  long  continue.  Colonel 
Heman  Swift  continued  in  active  service  during  most  of  the  War 
of  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  personal  friend  of  Washington,  by 
whom  he  was  held  in  high  esteem. 

Colonel  Swift's  early  education  was  very  limited.  This  circum- 
stance prevented  the  attainment  of  as  high  a  position  as  otherwise 
he  might  have  occupied.  He  was  for  many  years  after  the  close 
of  the  war  a  member  of  the  Upper  House  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture. He  possessed  a  noble  personal  appearance,  and  during  the 
later  period  of  his  life  bore  the  title  of  General.  He  died  Novem- 
ber, 1814. 

Colony 

of 

Connecticut. 

THOMAS  FITCH,  Esq. 

Captain-  General  and  Oovernor-in-  Chief  in  and  over  His  Majesty'' s  English 
Colony  of  CONNECTICUT,  in  New-England  in  America. 

To  Heman  Swift,  Gentleman,  Greeting  : 

By  Virtue  of  the  Power  &  Authority  to  me  given,  in  &  by  the  Royal 
Charter,  to  the  Governor  &  Cpmpany  of  the  said  Colony,  under  the  Great 
Seal  of  England,  I  do  by  these  presents,  reposing  especial  trust  &  confi- 
dence in  your  Loyalty  &  Courage  &  good  Conduct,  constitute  and 
appoint  you  the  said  Heman  Swift  to  be  first  Lieutenant  of  the  ninth 
Company  in  a  Regiment  of  Foot,  raised  within  this  Colony  for  invading 
Canada,  and  carrying  the  "War  into  the  Heart  of  the  Enemies  Posses- 
sions; &  to  proceed  therein  under  the  Supreme  Command  of  His 
Majesty's  Commander-in-Chief  in  North  America,  of  which  Regiment 
David  Wooster,  Esq.,  is  Colonel.  You  are  therefore  carefully  and  dili- 
gently to  discharge  the  Duty  of  a  Lieutenant  in  leading,  ordering,  and 
exercising  said  company  in  Arms,  both  inferior  Officers  &  Soldiers,  in  the 
service  aforesaid,  to  keep  them  in  good  Order  and  Discipline ;  hereby  com- 
manding them  to  obey  you,  as  their  Lieutenant,  and  yourself  to  observe 
&  follow  such  Orders  &  Instructions,  as  you  shall  from  Time  to  Time 
receive  from  Me,  or  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  said  Colony,  for  the 
Time  being,  or  other  your  superior  Officers,  according  to  the  Rules  & 
Discipline  of  War,  pursuant  to  the  Trust  reposed  in  you. 

Given  under  my  hand  &  the  public  of  the  said  Colony  at 
Norwalk,  the  Twenty-seventh  day  of  March,  in  the  Thirty- 
first  Year  of  the  Reign  of  his  Majesty  King  George  the 
Second.     Annoque  Domini,  1758. 
By  His  Honor's  Command,  THOS.  FITCH. 

George  Wyllts,  Sect. 

Captain  John  Jeffers. 

This  name  in  the  early  records  of  the  town  was  called  Jeffrey. 
Whoever  was  acquainted  with  the  people  of  Cornwall  fifty  or  sixty 
years  ago  will  recollect  an  old  Revolutionary  soldier  by  the  name 
of  Captain  John  Jeffers.     He  had  served  faithfully  in  the  Conti- 


SOLDIERS    OF    TUE    REVOLUTION.  215 

nental  army  against  the  British  and  Indians.  The  rough  pursuits 
of  a  large  share  of  his  life,  and  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  had 
given  him  a  peculiar  style  of  manner,  and  made  their  impress 
indelibly  upon  his  moral  sensibilities.  He  was  naturally  brave, 
ardent,  and  of  strong  passions.  After  the  war  had  closed  he 
retired  to  private  life,  and  abstained  from  any  business  engage- 
ments except  as  teacher  of  a  district  school.  He  taught  in  the  dis- 
trict north  of  Cream  Hill  for  at  least  two  winters.  As  a  teacher, 
Captain  Jeffers,  accustomed  as  he  had  been  to  the  arbitrary  rules 
of  a  military  life,  was  severe  in  the  government  of  his  school — dif- 
fering widely  from  that  modern  tender-footed  class  who  advocate 
the  no-whipping  and  anti-corporeal  punishment  system,  and  believe 
that  Solomon  was  not  a  very  wise  man  in  comparison  with  many 
in  our  day. 

The  military  company  which  was  under  Jeffer's  command,  and 
which  he  often  led  to  perform  feats  of  valor,  received  the  gentle 
appellation  of  "  Hell  Hounds."  He  was  accustomed  to  spend  most 
of  his  time  in  visiting  the  various  families  about  the  town,  who 
were  always  happy  to  entertain  an  old  soldier,  give  him  the 
best  seat  at  the  board  and  the  fireside,  and  to  promote  his  happi- 
ness in  every  possible  way.  His  genial  manners,  large  stores  of 
information,  and  free  conversational  powers,  made  his  company 
usually  agreeable  and  interesting.  His  vices,  for  he  had  some, 
"leaned  to  virtue's  side,"  and  were  the  inseparable  accompany- 
ments  of  the  camp  and  battle-field,  where  he  had  passed  so  many 
years. 

Captain  Jeffers  was  never  married.  When  in  1812  war  was 
declared  by  the  United  States  against  England,  Jeffers  made 
application  to  a  distinguished  member  of  Congress  for  a  Brigadier- 
General's  commission  in  the  army;  but  this  request  was  not 
granted. 

Soon  after  this  he  was  taken  with  a  fever  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Timothy  Johnson,  and  after  a  few  days'  illness  died.  His  death 
occurred  in  the  early  part  of  May,  1813.  His  grave  is  in  the  old 
South  Cornwall  cemetery. 

He  was  the  son  of  John  Jeffrey  and  Mary  Howland.  He  was 
born  5th  of  June,  1761,  being  at  the  time  of  his  death  nearly  52 
years  of  age.  His  birthplace,  and  where  his  father's  family 
resided,  was  the  farm  owned  and  occupied  by  the  late  Hawley 
Reed,  now  that  of  Barnett  Johnson,  in  Cornwall  Hollow. 


216  history  of  cornwall. 

Hon.  Oliver  Burnham. 

Few,  if  any,  of  the  distinguished  men  who  have  borne  an  active 
part  in  the  transactions  of  Cornwall  since  its  first  settlement,  would 
rank  before  the  Hon.  Oliver  Burnham,  whose  late  residence  still 
remains,  though  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  south  of  the  North  Cornwall  Church.  His  father,  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  was  a  resident  of  Cream  Hill.  The  son  Ohver 
served,  while  very  young,  as  a  soldier  in  the  Army  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  in  consequence  of  a  wound  produced  at  that  time  he 
received  a  small  annuity  from  the  government.  He  occupied  the 
place  of  County  Surveyor  for  many  years.  For  twenty  or  twen- 
ty-five years  he  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly, 
usually  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  served  one  term  in 
the  Senate.  He  held  the  office  of  magistrate  until  exempted  by 
age,  and  served  a  short  time  as  judge  of  the  county  court. 

When  in  middle  life  he  was  distinguished  by  the  beauty  of  his 
personal  appearance.  His  manly  form,  dark  eyes,  regular  features, 
which  were  usually  enlivened  by  a  smile  and  a  strong  intellectual 
expression  whenever  addressing  another,  was  in  no  ordinary  degree 
interesting  and  agreeable.  A  mind  naturally  vigorous  had  been 
much  improved  by  his  long  course  of  public  life,  and  his  varied 
stores  of  knowledge,  thus  acquired,  enriched  his  conversational 
powers,  which  gave  a  charm  to  his  society  possessed  by  very  few 
men  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

He  was  a  native  of  Farmington,  and  born  on  November  11, 
1760.  When  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  enlisted  as  a  soldier 
in  the  regiment  of  Col.  Wilhs,  and  went,  in  December,  1875,  to 
join  Gen.  Washington's  army,  then  near  Boston.  When  the  Brit- 
ish evacuated  Boston  and  removed  to  New  York,  the  army  of 
Washington  soon  followed  them.  Young  Burnham  was  in  the 
desperate  and  disastrous  battle  on  the  west  end  of  Long  Island,  at 
Flatbush;  many  were  killed,  and  others  taken  prisoners.  The 
prompt  withdrawal  of  the  American  army  by  Washington  during 
a  dense  fog  perhaps  saved  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged  from 
total  failure. 

When  in  New  York,  young  Burnham  was  removed  from  his 
regiment  to  a  battalion  of  rangers,  commanded  by  Col.  Knowl- 
ton,  and  was  near  Harlem  when  the  army  of  Gen.  Washington 
left  New  York.  Knowlton  was  ordered  to  take  one  hundred  and 
twenty  men  and  reconnoiter  a  large  body  of  the  British  on  Harlem 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  217 

Heights,  and  bring  them  down  to  a  certain  ground,  more  favor- 
able to  the  attack  of  the  Americans.  They  went  on  until  the 
enemy  fired  upon  them,  when  Knowlton's  men  fired,  and  after  giv- 
ing the  enemy  nine  rounds,  rapidly  retreated  and  concealed  them- 
selves behind  a  stone  wall.  The  British  came  on,  and  when  within 
about  ten  rods  of  the  wall  Knowlton's  men  fired  upon  them. 
Thirty  were  killed  or  wounded  of  the  Americans,  and  many  more 
of  the  British.  Knowlton,  before  he  could  reach  the  main  army, 
being  pursued  by  the  enemy,  was  mortally  wounded.  At  this 
juncture  the  American  army  attacked  the  enemy  in  large  force, 
and  after  a  severe  battle  of  four  or  five  hours,  the  enemy  were 
driven  back,  leaving  many  dead  and  wounded  on  the  field.  Gen. 
Washington  gave  his  thanks  to  this  brave  body  for  their  success, 
and  they  were  ordered  to  the  rear  for  a  season  of  rest. 

After  this,  the  corps  to  which  Burnham  belonged,  under  the 
command  of  Maj.  Coburn,  was  placed  between  the  two  armies — 
a  post  of  danger,  but  one  of  honor  also — the  place  of  the  greatest 
hazard  is  best  suited  for  the  brave.  In  a  skirmish  which  ensued 
on  Harlem  Plain,  Maj.  Coburn  was  wounded,  and  in  consequence 
resigned  his  command,  and  a  Capt.  Pope  took  his  place. 

On  the  16th  of  the  following  November,  the  enemy  came  out  in 
full  force  and  attacked  the  Americans  on  every  side.  The  battle 
lasted  during  most  of  the  day  and  resulted  in  young  Burnham, 
with  many  others,  being  taken  prisoners  of  war.  He  was  taken  to 
New  York  with  his  associates.  They  were  confined  in  a  barn  for 
two  or  three  days,  and  then  in  the  old  Dutch  Church.  For  the 
first  four  days  after  Burnham's  captivity,  he  tasted  no  food  nor  saw 
any  but  some  sea  biscuit,  which  were  devoured  before  he  could 
obtain  any. 

These  prisoners  were  nine  days  in  the  church  with  small  allow- 
ance of  food.  Some  soup  was  furnished  them  by  a  few  good  peo- 
ple in  the  city. 

From  the  Old  Dutch  Church  they  were  removed  to  a  prison- 
ship  where  were  confined  eight  hundred  prisoners,  making  with 
the  guard,  1,000  men.  The  name  of  this  ship  was  the  Dalton. 
Although  she  was  a  large-sized  East  Indiaman,  the  crowd  in  the 
hold  was  so  great  that  there  was  not  room  to  sleep  below  without 
lying  partly  one  upon  another.  In  the  pestiferous  air  of  this 
crowded  ship,  with  scanty  allowance  of  food,  and  but  little  water, 
it  seems  extraordinary  that  any  should  have  survived. 

The  prisoners  died  in  vast  numbers.  Every  morning  boat-loads 
28 


218  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

were  conveyed  away  to  a  sand -beach,  ostensibly  for  interment,  but 
the  whitened  bones  which  afterwards  appeared  were  a  sufficient 
proof  of  the  barbarity  of  the  enemy. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  young  Burnham  among  the  sick, 
dying,  and  dead  for  many  days  (how  long  he  did  not  know),  until 
he  also  became  sick.  Being  the  youngest  of  the  prisoners,  his 
sufferings  excited  the  compassion  of  the  commander,  and  he  and 
a  few  others  were  sent  to  the  city.  They  were  put  into  the  INIeth- 
odist  church  in  John  street.  Burnham  remained  there  for  many 
days  without  any  proper  care,  and  was  furnished  with  nothing  but 
powders  and  water -gruel. 

Soon  after  this  a  quarrel  originated  between  the  doctor  who  had 
the  care  of  him,  and  a  prisoner  by  the  name  of  Samuel  Lyman, 
who  brought  some  soup  for  the  sick.  Lyman  applied  to  the  British 
commodore,  and  obtained  orders  that  he  and  his  associates  that  were 
sick  and  were  New  Englanders  might  board  in  the  city.  The 
town  of  Farmington  sent  money,  so  that  they  were  comfortably 
provided  for  in  provisions.  At  this  time  the  small-pox  was  pre- 
vailing in  New  York.  Burnham  caught  the  disease,  from  which 
he  recovered.  After  a  time  he  was  about  to  obtain  leave  to  go 
home  on  parol,  but  just  before  the  arrangement  was  completed,  and 
while  at  the  office  upon  this  business,  the  news  of  Washington's 
successful  battle  at  Princeton  arrived  and  crushed  all  hopes  of  a 
parol.  He  remained  a  prisoner  in  New  York  until  the  16th  of 
February,  1777,  when,  by  the  aid  of  some  friends,  he  took  leave 
of  his  captors  without  asking  their  liberty,  and  returned  home. 
He  was  afterwards  in  two  campaigns  until  he  became  lame,  and  in 
consequence  compelled  to  retire  from  the  army — at  which  time  he 
was  but  eighteen  years  of  age. 

He  married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Noah  Rogers,  a  lady  of  piety, 
and  the  mother  of  a  numerous  and  interesting  family  of  children, 
all  of  whom  but  two  have  passed  away. 

As  a  politician,  J  udge  Burnham  possessed  much  shrewdness  and 
tact.  For  many  years  he  probably  held  a  greater  influence  in  the 
affairs  of  the  town  than  any  other  individual.  His  vigorous  intel- 
lect remained  unimpaired  until  he  attained  about  fourscore 
years.  Although  partial  to  the  Episcopal  church,  he  was  a  regular 
supporter  of  the  Congregational  society.  He  died  in  the  eightieth 
year  of  his  age. 


soldiers  of  the  revolution.  219 

Jacob  Scoville. 

Among  the  residents  of  Cornwall  who  took  an  active  part  in  the 
struggle  of  the  Revolution,  and  one  intimately  known  to  the  writer, 
was  Jacob  Scoville,  Often  did  he  afford  amusement  in  my  boy- 
hood by  relating  incidents  of  the  war  in  which  he  had  for  so  many 
years  been  an  actor.  He  was  distinguished  by  a  genial  and  con- 
vivial nature,  frank  and  amiable  manners,  and  generous  hospitality. 

He  served  as  a  private  soldier  through  most  of  the  war,  and  in 
his  old  age  received  the  benefit  of  a  pension.  He  was  a  single 
man  through  his  military  service,  at  the  close  of  which  he  married 
a  widow  Emmons,  whose  first  husband  died  in  a  prison  ship  in 
New  York. 

The  farm  she  occupied  was  situated  on  the  southern  border  of 
Cream  Hill.  The  house  was  remote  from  the  traveled  road,  in  a 
sequestered  vale,  and  beside  a  little  brook  whose  bright  and  spark- 
ling waters  murmured  their  sweet  though  monotonous  music,  as 
they  hui'ried  onward  in  their  ceaseless  course.  It  was  a  small 
brown  cottage.  Its  original  dimensions  were  very  limited,  consist- 
ing of  but  one  room,  to  which  several  small  additions  had  been 
made  from  time  to  time,  to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  occupants. 
Here  wore  a  few  feet  appended  for  a  pantry,  there  an  addition  for 
a  small  bedroom,  and  on  another  side  still,  a  portion  sheltering  the 
only  entrance.  Its  secluded  and  sheltered  position  precluded 
extensive  prospect,  and  no  other  house  was  in  view. 

Fruit  trees  of  various  kinds,  such  as  the  cherry,  peach,  plum, 
quince,  pear,  and  apple,  exhaled  the  fragrance  of  their  blossoms 
upon  the  balmy  air  of  spring,  and  sheltered,  beneath  their  cool, 
embowering  shade,  this  quiet  spot  from  the  scorching  rays  of  the 
summer  sun,  or  protected  it  from  the  rough  blasts  of  winter. 

In  this  humble  though  picturesque  spot  lived  a  widow,  with  her 
three  orphan  children.  Her  name  was  Hamer  [Ruhamath]  Em- 
mons. She  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Jennings.  Her  eldest 
children  were  daughters  of  some  six  and  eight  years;  the 
youngest,  a  son  of  about  four.  One  of  the  daughters  married  a 
Mr.  Cole  of  Sharon,  father  of  Benjamin  Cole.  The  other  a  Mr. 
Hudson;  from  this  last  marriage  a  grandson,  who  became  high 
sheriff  of  Columbia  County,  N,  Y.  Two  long  years  had  this 
widowed  mother  tended  her  little  flock  since  the  companion  of  her 
happier  days — he  who  shared  with  her  the  toils  and  joys  of  life — 
had  passed  away. 


220  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Melancholy  were  the  circumstances  of  his  death  to  her,  for  he 
expired  amid  the  pestilential  air  of  a  British  prison-sliip.  He  was 
a  brave  soldier  and  a  kind  husband,  but  his  country  had  called 
him  to  break  away  from  all  the  endearments  of  his  happy  home, 
and  meet  his  fate  where  she  could  not  smooth  his  lonely  pillow,  or 
administer  any  relief  to  his  sufferings. 

But  Time,  the  great  restorer  of  human  comfort  under  bereave- 
ment, had  done  something  to  tranquilize  her  perturbed  spirit,  and 
heal  the  wounds  of  her  lacerated  hpart. 

A  placid  melancholy  had  taken  the  place  of  deep  sorrow,  and 
she  became  pleased  when  some  neighbors  dropped  in  to  pay  her  a 
visit,  and  particularly  when  a  soldier,  returned  from  the  war,  would 
spend  a  leisure  hour  in  relating  something  which  he  chanced  to 
know  of  .her  dear  lost  husband. 

Among  the  number  of  her  visitors,  none  seemed  to  afford  her 
more  pleasure  than  Jacob  Scoville.  She  had  known  him  from 
childhood.  He  had  suffered  with  her  late  husband  in  the  toils  and 
privations  of  the  army  and  noisome  prison-ship,  and  had  watched 
over  him  when  the  deadly  sickness  was  upon  him,  and  assisted  to 
close  his  eyes  in  death. 

Jacob  Scoville  was  young,  several  years  younger  than  widow 
Emmons;  but  she  was  still  a  young  widow,  and  it  was  not  strange 
that  the  susceptible  heart  of  Jacob,  at  length,  should  have  become 
affectionately  inclined  towards  Hamer  Emmons.  Every  time  he 
could  honorably  obtain  leave  of  absence  from  the  army,  he  would 
hasten  home,  and  as  often  as  he  came  he  visited  his  gentle  friend, 
who  greeted  him  with  kindness  at  each  successive  visit,  and  as  he 
rarely  failed  to  bring  some  little  present  for  the  children,  he  soon 
became  quite  a  favorite  with  them.  Mrs.  Emmons  scarcely  knew 
why  she  had  become  so  much  interested  in  these  things,  or  why 
her  heart  would  suddenly  leap  with  a  joyous  emotion  as  she  con- 
templated his  speedy  return. 

Now  "the  wars  were  over,"  the  "intention  of  marriage,"  as  the 
law  of  the  time  required,  was  duly  proclaimed  by  the  minister  on 
the  following  Sabbath,  and  the  indissoluble  bands  were  shortly 
after  imposed.  Jacob  Scoville  was  too  partial  to  the  little  cottage 
by  the  brook  to  forego  the  pleasure  of  occupying  the  same,  and 
chose  it  as  his  residence.  Here  Jacob  and  Hamer  lived  many 
years,  until  they  purchased  and  occupied  the  small  brown  one-story 
house  situated  on  the  traveled  road,  a  little  west  of  the  present 
house  of  Jacob  and  Ralph  I.  Scoville,  where  now  is  the  residence 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REBELLION.  221 

of  Mrs.  Wm.  Rogers.     Here  tliey  lived  together  until  the  death  of 
Hamer  [Ruhamath],  which  occurred  in  the  year  1830. 

The  writer,  during  a  professional  visit  in  the  neighborhood  on 
the  day  of  her  decease,  in  passing  the  house,  was  accosted  by 
Jacob  Scoville  with  a  request  to  call,  saying,  with  deep  emotion, 
and  tears  falling  from  his  cheeks,  "Hamer  is  a-dying."  She  was 
insensible,  and  in  a  dying  ^state,  and  shortly  breathed  her  last. 

On  the  death  of  his  wife,  Jacob  went  to  live  with  his  nephew, 
Jacob  Scoville,  to  whom  he  gave  his  property.  Here,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years,  he  died,  and  was  buried  by  the 
side  of  Hamer. 

Their  resting  place  may  be  seen  in  the  old  South  cemetery  in 
Cornwall.  And  whoever  shall  read  their  brief  epitaphs,  may  drop 
a  tear  over  a  soldier's  grave,  and  remember  the  virtues  which  were 
many,  and  forget  the  vices  which  were  comparatively  few,  over 
two  generous  hearts  now  tranquilly  at  rest. 

Samuel  Scoville,  brother  of  Jacob,  was  very  partial  to  Gen.  Swift. 
Once,  when  on  sentinel  duty,  it  was  very  wet  and  muddy,  an  officer 
came  riding  along,  whom  he  ordered  to  dismount.  The  officer 
replied,  "You  know  me  well,  and  you  wouldn't  make  me -get  off  in 
this  mud  ?"  "1  know  no  man  when  on  duty,  and  you  must  dis- 
mount." Soon  after  Gen.  Swift  rode  up,  to  whom  he  said,  "  I 
know  you  very  well,  you  can  pass." 

The  following  names  are  from  an  old  record  : 

Samuel  Emmons  died  in  a  prison-ship  at  New  York. 

Heth,  or  Hesse  (colored,)  belonged  to  Capt.  Samuel  Wadsworth  : 
died  in  Goshen,  aged  about  90. 

Reuben  Dean,  Jos.  A.  Tanner,  Elisha  Bradford,  Wm.  Chittester. 

Wm.  Bierce,  afterwards  went  to  New  Connecticut,  where  his 
sons,  Columbus  and  Lucius,  became  prominent  men. 

Ebenezer  Bierce,  Edward  Allen. 


CORNWALL  SOLDIERS  IN  THE  WAR  OF  THE  REBEL- 
LION. 
Of  the  sons  of  Cornwall  who  gave  their  lives  for  their  country 
three  he  buried  in  the  HoUow  cemetery;  one  alone  has  a  monu- 
ment with  this  short  epitaph: 

MAJ.-GEK  .JOHN  SEDGWICK, 

Bom  in  Cornwall  Hollow, 

Sept.  13,  181.3. 

Killed  near  Spottsylvania  C.  H.,  Va.,  May  9,  18(J4. 


222  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Any  attempt  to  do  justice  to  the  eminent  services  of  Gen. 
Sedgwick  must  of  course  be  a  failure.  My  father  attempted  to 
prepare  a  sketch  of  his  Hfe,  but  it  remained  unfinished  among  his 
paper^.  He  says:  "Among  the  distinguished  lieroes  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Union,  none  held  a  more  exalted  position,  or, 
dying,  left  a  purer  record  on  the  page  of  our  country's  history, 
than  Maj.-Gen.  John  Sedgwick." 

In  1832,  in  a  letter  to  Gen.  Cass,  recommending  young  Sedgwick 
for  an  appointment  at  West  Point,  my  father  wrote:  "I  believe, 
if  permitted  to  enjoy  that  privilege,  he  would  do  honor  to  the 
institution  and  become  of  some  service  to  his  country."  Would 
that  all  our  recommendations  to  public  places  could  be  as  well 
honored.  Graduating  with  honor  in  1837,  he  was  first  engaged 
in  the  Seminole  war  in  Florida;  the  next  year,  under  Gen.  Scott, 
employed  in  the  removal  of  the  Cherokees  to  their  Western  reser- 
vation ;  next  we  find  him  fighting  in  Mexico,  under  Taylor,  Worth, 
and  Scott.  Vera  Cruz,  Cerro  Gordo,  Puebla,  Cherubusco,  El 
Molino  del  Rey,  and  Mexico  herself,  witnessed  his  valor. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  opened  while  he  was  on  the  frontiers 
beyond  Pike's  Peak.  Called  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  the 
command  of  which  was  twice  offered  to  him  and  twice  declined, 
he  fought  at  Fair  Oaks,  Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  and  the  battles 
of  the  Wilderness,  till  he  met  a  soldier's  death  at  Spottsylvania. 

Notwithstanding  his  familiarity  with  scenes  of  blood  and  car- 
nage, he  was  as  tender  as  a  father  of  his  men ;  and  though  so  long 
in  public  life,  and  removed  from  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood,  his  love 
for  them,  for  his  ancestral  acres, — for  they  had  memories  of  which 
a  soldier  and  a  patriot  might  well  be  proud, — his  love  for  the 
simple  pursuits  of  husbandry  was  as  strong  as  if  he  had  never 
wandered  from  his  native  vale. 

The  strength  of  a  country  consists  not  in  bulwarks  and  ramparts 
of  stone,  nor  yet  in  an  array  of  well-disciplined  troops,  bristling 
with  bayonets  and  thunderiog  with  artillery;  not  in  commerce, 
with  her  sails  whitening  every  sea,  and  bringing  tribute  from 
every  clime;  not  in  manufactures,  leading  captive  the  powers  of 
water  and  of  steam;  nor  even  in  agriculture,  the  parent  of  all  arts, 
with  her  waving  fields  of  grain,  and  her  flocks  and  herds  upon  a 
thousand  hills;  but  in  the  hearts  of  her  citizens.  If  they  are  vir- 
tuous, if  they  are  true,  if  they  are  noble,  if  they  are  brave,  they 
form  true  ramparts  stronger  than  ribs  of  oak  or  mountains  of 
rock,  alike  defenders  against  external  assaults  and  internal  dissen- 
sions. 


SOLDIERS  OF  THE  REBELLION.  223 

What  nation  has  a  richer  record  than  our  own  of  true,  noble,  and 
brave  men,  who  in  times  of  danger  have  rushed  to  her  rescue — 
have  bared  their  breasts  to  her  enemies — and  who  have,  alas  ! 
sealed  their  sacrifice  with  their  blood. 

But  Gen.  Sedgwick  was  known  to  us  as  one  who  never  forgot 
his  ancestral  home.  The  adornment  of  his  paternal  acres  was  his 
pride,  and  it  was  his  hope  and  ambition  to  retire  from  public  life, 
here  to  enjoy  that  quiet  which  his  duties  as  a  soldier  prohibited. 
The  same  qualities  which  made  him  a  good  officer  made  him  a 
good  farmer,  and  his  example  and  influence  as  a  cultivator  of  the 
soil  Vv'ill  be  no  less  enduring  than  as  a  patriot  soldier. 

In  1858  the  old  Sedgwick  residence,  which  had  been  so  speedily 
rebuilt  for  his  grandfather  when  it  was  burned  by  the  Tories  in 
Revolutionary  times,  was  consumed  by  fire.  Here  Gen.  Sedgwick 
built  a  noble  mansion  for  his  own  occupancy,  but  it  was  a  sad  day 
to  his  friends  and  neighbors  gathered  there,  May  15,  1864,  to  per- 
form the  last  offices  to  the  patriot  dead. 

In  the  same  cemetery,  with  unmarked  graves,  rest  Harvey  Ford 
and  Mr.  Read,  colored. 

In  the  North  Cornwall  cemetery  we  find  the  names  of 

Lieut.  William  H.  Coggswell,  died  Sept.  22,  1864,  aged  25 
years,  2  months,  and  23  days.  He  enlisted  as  private  in  the  Fifth 
Regiment,  C.  V.,  June  22,  1861,  and  was  promoted  in  the  Second 
Connecticut  Artillery  for  gallant  services,  Sept.  11,  1862.  He  was 
in  the  battles  of  Peaked  Mountain,  Winchester,  Cedar  Mountain, 
Cold  Harbor,  and  Opequan,  and  died  from  wounds  received  in 
last  battle. 

A  handsome  freestone  monument,  with  the  above  inscription, 
erected  by  his  fellow-townsmen,  stands  as  a  tribute  to  his  memory. 
As  a  valiant,  faithful  soldier  he  had  no  superiors,  while  in  his  power 
to  endure  fatigue,  agility,  strength,  and  never-failing  spirits,  he  had 
few  equals.  The  writer  remarked  to  his  colonel  (Wessells)  that 
"  William  was  one  of  a  thousand  as  a  soldier."  He  replied,  "  You 
might  well  say  one  of  ten  thousand." 

It  is  related  of  him  that  when  on  the  march  many  were  falling 
out  of  the  ranks  from  fatigue,  he  grasped  the  muskets  of  three  or 
four,  carrying  them  for  miles,  showing  his  men  what  strong  and 
willing  arms  could  do. 

Before  he  went  into  the  army  he  was  a  noted  runner  at  all  our 
local  fairs,  surpassing  all  competitors,  so  that  when  it  became 
known  that  he  was  to  run,  there  would  be  no  race.     No  gymnasium 


224  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

could  surpass  these  Cornwall  hills,  as  a  field  to  acquire  good  kings 
and  limbs.  He  was  the  oldest  son  of  Nathan  Coggswell,  to  whose 
skilled  hands  Cornwall  farmers  are  indebted  for  many  of  their  fine 
stone  walls,  and  grandson  of  Jeremiah  Coggswell,  a  member  of 
the  Scatikoke  tribe. 

Crawford  H.  Nodine,  son  of  Robert  G.  and  Clara  Hart  Nodine, 
died  of  woimds  received  at  the  battle  of  Cedar  Mountain,  Sept.  3, 
1862,  aged  21. 

He  was  a  grandson  of  Deacon  Nathan  Hart,  and  a  young  man 
of  much  promise.  He  was  residing  at  Charleston,  West  Virginia. 
A  rebel  bullet  struck  a  building  near  him.  This  settled  his  deter- 
mination to  enter  the  army.  He  said  he  would  "  send  it  back  to 
its  owners." 

Capt.  Amos  T.  Allen,  Co.  C,  Eleventh  Regiment,  C.  V.,  only 
brother  of  Susan  Brewster,  died  of  wounds  received  at  the  battle 
of  Cold  Harbor,  July  6,  1864,  aged  25  years.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  following  battles:  Winchester,  May  25,  1862;  Cedar  Moun- 
tain, Aug.  9,  1862;  Fredericksburg,  Dec.  12  to  15,  1862;  Suffolk, 
April  24,  1863;  near  Suffolk,  May  3,  1863;  Swift's  Creek,  May  9, 
1864;  Cold  Harbor,  June  3,  1864. 

Capt.  Allen  enlisted  as  a  private,  and  was  promoted  for  his  gal- 
lant conduct.  Political  economists,  in  attempting  to  account  for 
the  present  hard  times,  for  the  stagnation  in  business,  fail  to  take 
account  of  one  important  element,— the  immense  loss  the  country 
sustained  in  so  many  of  her  most  enterprising,  active  young  men, 
who  now,  in  the  prime  of  hfe,  would  have  been  foremost  in  every 
enterprise. 

Charles  McCormick,  born  Sept.  15,  1836;  died  Sept.  17,  1865, 
from  disease  contracted  in  the  service.  He  was  a  member  of  Co.  1, 
Fifth  Regiment,  C.  V.,  and  in  the  battles  of  Winchester,  Cedar  Moun- 
tain,  Chancellorsville,  and  Gettysburg,  and  orderly-sergeant  of  his 
company  under  General  Sherman,  in  all  battles  from  Chattanooga 
to  the  surrender  of  the  rebels  under  Johnson. 

William  Green,  died  March  29,  1874,  aged  46;  born  in  Shef- 
field, England. 

Myron  Hubbell,  died  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  Nov.  24,  1862,  aged  38. 

Mr.  Hubbell  was  a  miller  by  trade;  tended  the  mill  at  West 
Cornwall,  and  when  he  enlisted  was  at  Gold's  mill.  A  few  years 
before  he  married  Laura,  daughter  of  Birdseye  Baldwin,  who 
still  survives. 

Two  as  yet  have  no  monuments. 


SOLDIERS    OF    THE    REBELLION.  225 

Edward  Barnum. — He  was  the  son  of  Micajah  Barnura,  and 
was  a  native  of  Cornwall,  though  he  enlisted  elsewhere;  died 
in  1875. 

Edgar  Elias,  eldest  son  of  John  Hart,  born  in  Cornwall,  1842; 
enlisted  in  the  Eighth  N.  Y.  Regiment,  and  served  through  the 
war.     He  died  in  Cornwall  in  1875. 

Soldiers  Buried  in  the  Cemetery  at  Cornivall. 

Rev.  Jacob  Eaton,  Chaplain  of  Seventh  Regiment,  C.  V.  I.,  died 
at  Wilmington,  N.  C,  March  20,  1865,  aged  32  years;  a  volunteer 
in  the  war  of  1861.     A  noble  Christian  patriot. 

George  W.  Pendleton,  a  member  of  Co.  C,  First  Connecticut 
Artillery;  died  while  in  the  service  of  his  country  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  September  11,  1862,  aged  22  years. 

Corporal  Henry  L.  Vail,  died  at  Winchester,  Va.,  November  3, 
1864,  by  a  rebel  bullet  through  the  neck  and  shoulder;  aged  23. 

John  Hawver,  died  August  1,  1868,  aged  30. 

Philo  L.  Cole,  died  January  4,  1863,  aged  27. 

William  R.,  son  of  Rufus  and  Mary  S.  Payne,  died  February 
20,  1865,   aged  33. 

William  B.  North,  born  June  25,  1835,  died  March  18,  1866. 
Two  other  graves  there  have  no  monuments. 
Thomas  Sherman  returned  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  the 
Second  Connecticut  Artillery,  and  died  in  1866. 

Zina  D.  Hotchkiss,  a  member  of  Co.  G,  Second  Connecticut 
Artillery,  died  in  1875. 

The  remains  of  five  are  buried  in  the  cemetery  in  the  southwest 
part  of  the  town. 

Albert  Robinson,  sergeant  of  Co.  G,  Second  Connecticut  H.  A., 
died  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  March  26,  1865,  aged  33  years. 

George  Page,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  October  19, 
1864,  aged  25.     A  member  of  Co.  G,  Second  Conn.  H.  A. 

Lewis  Sawyer,  died  at  the  City  of  Washington,  August  24, 
1864,  aged  24  years.     A  member  of  Co.  G,  Second  Conn.  H.  A. 

Horace  Sickman,  a  member  of  Co.  G,  Second  Conn.  H.  A., 
died  in  Washington,  July  19,  1864,  aged  29  years. 

Hermon  E.  Bonney,  died  at  Philadelphia,  June  28,  1864,  aged 
28  years.     A  member  of  Second  Conn.  H.  A. 
29 


226  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

I  am  indebted  to  H.  P.  Milford  of  Cornwall  Bridge  for  the 
names  of  Cornwall  soldiers  in  Co.  G,  Nineteenth  Conn.  Vol.,  after- 
wards Second  Conn.  H.  A.,  with  some  incidents  of  their  history. 
Mr.  Milford  went  as  corporal,  entering  camp  at  Litchfield,  August 
21,  1862,  and  was  quartermaster-sergeant  at  the  time  of  his  dis- 
charge, July  7,  1865. 

The  following-named  men  were  residents  of  Cornwall  at  the  time 
of  their  enlistment:  Edward  F.  Gold,  captain;  John  M.  Gregory, 
lieutenant,  lost  an  arm  at  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek.  Gad  N.  Smith 
became  captain.  Henry  S.  Dean,  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor;  Henry 
P.  Milford,  Joseph  Payne,  killed  at  Cold  Harbor;  Myron  Hubbell. 
died  of  sickness;  Albert  L.  Benedict,  Frederick  Butler,  Franklin 
B.  Bierce,  Jerome  Chipman,  Nelson  Clark,  Philo  Cole,  died;  Josiah 
B.  Corban,  Patrick  Delaney,  Edward  Hawver,  wounded  at  Cedar 
Creek;  Nelson  T.  Jennings,  George  L.  Jones,  David  Kimball,  Syd- 
ney Lapham,  John  Lapham,  Elijah  C.  Mallory,  Palph  J.  Miner, 
Henry  Peck,  killed  at  Winchester;  George  W.  Page,  killed  at  Cedar 
Creek;  Lucian  G.  Rouse,  died;  Charles  R.  Swift,  Lewis  Sawyer, 
died;  Thomas  Sherman,  Charles  H.  Smith,  Elisha  Soule,  killed  at 
Cedar  Creek;  Patrick  Troy,  died  from  wounds  received  at  Win - 
Chester;  Allen  Williams,  died;  Horace  Williams,  brother  to  the 
above,  Robert  Bard. 

The  above  went  with  the  regiment  from  Litchfield  Hill. 

The  following  joined  the  company  from  Cornwall  as  recruits; 
Herman  E.  Bonney,  died  ;  Albert  H.  Bailey,  George  W.  Baldwin, 
John  Hawver,  wounded  at  Cold  Harbor;  John  Christie,  Hubert 
D.  Huxley,  Zina  D.  Hotchkiss,  Dwight  A.  Hotchkiss,  father  and 
son,  Timothy  Leonard,  Paschal  P.  North,  died;  Nathan  Payne, 
Wm.  S.  Palmer,  Frederick  J.  Pierce,  Swift  B.  Smith,  John  Tul- 
ley,  William  White,  died;  James  H.  Van  Buren — this  was  a  boy 
in  the  drum  corps;  he  was  wounded  in  the  leg  at  Winchester,  had 
the  limb  amputated  twice,  and  died  of  the  wound. 

The  reader  is  referred  to  the  history  of  the  Nineteenth  Conn.  Vol., 
afterwards  the  Second  Conn.  Vol.  H.  A.,  by  Lieut.  T.  F.  Vaill,  for  a 
fuller  record  of  these  Cornwall  soldiers,  yet  some  personal  inci- 
dents related  by  Mr.  Milford  will  be  interesting  to  those  who  shared 
the  dangers  with  him. 

On  the  night  before  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  our  company  was 
on  picket  near  the  town  of  Hanover.  We  were  in  a  very  bad 
place,  and  very  near  the  rebs;  so  much  so,  that  we  could  hear  dis- 
tinctly all  that  was  going  on  in  their  camp,  and  we  were,  in  conse- 


SOLDIERS   OP   THE    REBELLION.  227 

quence,  very  watchful,  having  strict  orders  so  to  be.  Each  man 
worked  faithfully  in  digging  himself  a  hole  that  would  protect  him 
from  the  enemy's  bullets.  While  so  engaged,  we  could  just  dis- 
tinguish a  body  of  men  marching  on  our  left,  and  supposing  them 
to  be  the  rebs,  our  men  at  once  opened  fire  upon  them,  receiving  a 
shower  of  balls  in  return.  But  we  soon  learned  they  were  friends 
'  instead  of  foes.  We  were  lucky  on  our  side  in  getting  no  one  hurt, 
but  the  other  party,  which  proved  to  be  Company  L  of  our  regi- 
ment, had  two  wounded.  We  left  this  place  about  2  a.  m.  on  the 
morning  of  the  1st  of  June,  the  army  being  on  the  march  some 
hours  before  us  towards  Cold  Harbor,  and  I  think  all  of  our  com- 
pany will  always  remember  that  march  until  we  came  up  with  the 
army,  about  10  a.  m. 

Battle  of  Cedar  Creek. 

The  morning  of  October  19,  1864,  found  our  company  suddenly 
formed  in  line  of  battle  at  Cedar  Creek;  and  rebel  balls  made  sad 
havoc  in  our  ranks.  The  company  numbered  thirty-four  in  the 
morning;  at  night  I  called  the  roll  and  found  seventeen.  I  was 
stationed  on  the  left  of  the  regiment.  Sergeant  F.  Lucas,  our 
sergeant-major,  was  wounded  in  the  thigh,  and  I  aided  him  off  the 
field,  and  while  doing  so  our  army  retreated  past  us,  leaving  us 
between  the  lines,  and  the  balls  flew  about  us  thick  and  fast.  We 
expected  every  moment  to  be  either  shot  or  captured.  While  in 
this  place  I  had  my  knapsack  strap  cut,  letting  it  fall,  the  ball 
passing  under  my  arm,  parting  the  strap  as  cut  with  a  knife,  with- 
out doing  other  injury.  We  succeeded  in  getting  safely  within 
our  lines  again. 

Assistant  Adjutant-General  Simeon  J.  Fox  has  kindly  furnished 

me  the  names  of  recruits  from  the  Town  of  Cornwall  from  and 

after  July  1,  1863.     Those  previously  named  have  been  stricken 

from  this  list. 

First  Artillery. 

John  Swift,  Isaac  Doughty. 

Second  Artillery. 

Newton  W.  Coggswell,  Lockwood  Waldron, 

John  H.  Taylor,  John  R.  Thompson, 

Orville  Slover,  George  Burton, 

Horace  Sickmund,  ,                 Henry  M.  Marshall, 

William  A.  Slover,  Sylvester  Graves, 


228 


HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 


Norman  Mansfield,  Charles  C.  Bosworth, 

Lorenzo  Moseley,  Patrick  Ryan, 

Frederick  Saxe,  James  Adams. 

First  Cavalry. 

Michael  R.  Gates,  William  H.  Benton, 

James  McLane,  George  B.  Clark, 

Edward  Suter,  William  Rogers, 

James  Carey,  Frederick  Beam, 

John  Brady,  James  Kelly, 

John  McCabe,  John  Boyd, 

James  Flood,  John  Kelly, 

Fifth  Infantry. 
Charles  McCormick,  Wm.  H.  McMurtry, 

Tracy  A.  Bristol,  Adam  Coons. 

Seventh  Infantry. — Hiram  F.  Hawver. 

Eighth  Infantry. 

Charles  Dixon,  William  Petri, 

John  Williams,  Hiram  Allen, 

Peter  Smith,  '          William  Murphy, 

Henry  Root,  Nelson  Hart, 

Bennett  Smith,  Charles  E.  Dibble. 
Henry  C.  Smith, 

Ninth  Infantry. — William  C.  Wilson. 
Tenth  Infantry. 
John  Martin,  Andrew  Hall. 

Eleventh  Infantry. 
Thomas  Quinlan,  James  Armit, 

Frederick  Krellmer,  Joseph  Morean, 

Francis  Ginnetty,  Charles  Marien, 

Gustavo  Krall,  Pierre  A.  Guy. 

Thirteenth  Infantry. 
Eugene  Davidson,  Ira  A.  Davidson, 

John  McGowan,  Charles  Richmond, 

George  Roraback,  Sylvester  Titus, 

Henry  S.  Wright,  James  H.  Roraback. 

Fourteenth  Infantry. 
John  Buckley,  John  McCarrick. 


SOLDIERS  OF  THE  REBELLION.  229 

Seventeenth  Infantry. 
James  Mills,  James  McDermott. 

Tiventietli  Infantry. 
Lewis  T.  Drummond,  Charles  J.  Brent. 

Tiventy-mnih  Infantry. 
John  Watson,  George  H.  Green, 

Peter  Howard,  John  Lepyon. 

Henry  Johnson, 

Navy. — Charles  Dailey. 
Substitute. — John  Mahone. 

From  other  sources  I  gather  the  following  names,  but  it  by  no 
means  completes  the  list.  A  visit  to  each  family  would  hardly 
enable  one  to  make  a  complete  record,  so  soon  does  the  memory  of 
events  fade  away: 

Col.  Charles  D.  Blinn,  though  born  on  the  west  side  of  the 
HousatoTiic  River,  and  hence  in  the  Town  of  Sharon,  by  g©od 
rights  belongs  to  Cornwall.  He  was  a  son  of  Sturges  BHnn,  and 
on  his  mother's  side  a  grandson  of  Dea.  Elijah  Nettleton,  of  the 
Baptist  church,  who  resided  on  Cream  Hill.  From  the  location  of 
his  father's  farm,  just  across  the  bridge,  he  was  really  "brought 
up  "  in  Cornwall,  was  a  member  of  the  North  Cornwall  church, 
and  at  the  opening  of  the  war  was  a  clerk  with  Pratt  &  Foster. 
He,  with  his  uncle,  Isaac  Fuller  Nettleton,  then  living  in  Kent, 
desirous  to  do  something  for  their  country,  consulted  with  my 
father,  resulting  in  a  letter  from  him  of  recommendation  to 
Governor  Buckingham  that  they  were  proper  persons  to  raise  a 
company.  I  went  to  Hartford  with  them.  We  left  Cornwall 
early  in  the  morning,  and  before  noon  were  in  the  Governor's 
ofiice.  He  approved  the  application,  the  necessary  papers  were 
made  out,  and  they  returned  the  same  afternoon  to  Cornwall  and 
commenced  recruiting.  Theirs  was  the  first  full  company  to  go 
into  camp  of  the  Thirteenth  Regiment  at  New  Haven.  Going  out 
as  captain,  Blinn  returned  at  the  close  of  the  war  as  colonel, — the 
youngest  in  age  in  the  Connecticut  service.  Lieutenant  Nettleton 
died  at  New  Orleans,  much  lamented,  in  the  early  period  of  the 
war,  leaving  an  honored  name  in  Cornwall.  The  same  promptness 
that  distinguished  Captain  Blinn  and  his  company  in  their 
enrolment,   followed  them  in  their  whole  career.     No  task  so  diffi- 


230 


HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL. 


cult  or  post  so  dangerous  that  they  hesitated.  To  detail  their  services 
belongs  to  national  history. 

Alvin  Henry  Hart,  son  of  Elias  Hart,  went  as  sergeant  in  Co. 
I,  5th  Reg.,  Conn.  Vol.,  and  was  promoted  to  2d  Lieut.  Nov. 
1,  1864. 

Horace  Nelson  Hart,  son  of  John  Hart,  enlisted  in  Co.  I,  8th 
Reg.,  Conn.  Yol.,  Sept.  21,  1861,  at  sixteen  years  of  age.  Mustered 
out  in  1865.     Still  lives  in  Cornwall. 

John  Mills,  son  of  Peter  Mills,  enlisted  at  the  same  time  and 
died  in  the  service. 

Henry  Fieldsend,  killed  in  battle. 

Edwin  L.  Nickerson,  15th  Conn. 

Thomas  A.  Smith. 

James  Wilson. 

Charles  Fairchild. 


LIST    OF    REPRESENTATIVES    TO    THE    GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY    FROM    THE   TOWN    OF    CORN- 
WALL—FROM THE  STATE  RECORDS. 

October  Session,  1761. 

Joshua  Pierce. 

1762.  Oct. 
Thomas  Russell, 
Joshua  Pierce. 

1763.  Oct. 
Joshua  Pierce, 
Amos  Johnson. 

176Jf.  Oct. 

Thomas  Russell, 
Joshua  Pierce. 

1765. 


Thomas  Russell, 

May. 
Joshua  Pierce, 
Thomas  Russell. 

May. 
Thomas  Russell, 
Joshua  Pierce. 

May. 
Thomas  Russell, 
Joshua  Pierce. 

May. 
Thomas  Russell, 
Joshua  Pierce. 

May. 
Noah  Rogers, 
Heman  Swift. 

May. 
Thomas  Russell, 
Heman  Swift. 


1766. 


1767. 


Oct. 

Thomas  Russell, 
Joshua  Pierce. 

Oct. 
Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  RusseU. 

Oct. 
Thomas  Russell, 
Heman  Swift. 


LIST    OF    REPRESENTATIVES    FROM    STATE    RECORDS. 


231 


May.  1768. 

Thomas  Russell, 
Elijah  Steele. 

May.  1769. 

Joshua  Pierce, 
Thomas  Porter. 

May.  1770. 

Joshua  Pierce, 
Thomas  Porter. 

May.  1771. 

Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

May.  1772. 

Thomas  Russell, 
Heman  Swift. 

May.  177S. 

Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

May.  177^. 

Thomas  Porter, 
John  Pierce. 

May.  1775. 

Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

May.  1776. 

Edward  Rogers, 
John  Pierce. 

May.  1777. 

Edward  Rogers, 
John  Pierce. 

May.  1778. 

Edward  Rogers, 
Judah  Kellogg. 

May.  1779. 

Judah  Kellogg  only. 

May.  1780. 

Edward  Rogers, 
Andrew  Young. 


Oct. 
Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

Oct. 
Thomas  Russell, 
Thomas  Porter. 

Oct. 
Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

Oct. 
Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

Oct. 
Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

Oct. 
Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Russell. 

Oct. 
Heman  Swift, 
Thomas  Porter. 

Oct. 
Edward  Rogers, 
John  Pierce. 

Oct. 
Thomas  Porter, 
Judah  Kellogg. 

Oct. 
Judah  Kellogg  only. 

Oct. 
Edward  Rogers, 
Abraham  Payne. 

Oct. 
Edward  Rogers, 
Andrew  Young. 

Oct. 
Edward  Rogers, 
Andrew  Young. 


232 


HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 


May. 

1781. 

Oct. 

No  record. 

Mathew  Patterson, 
Noah  Rogers. 

May. 

1782. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

John  Sedgwick, 

No  record. 

Mathew  Patterson. 

May. 

1783. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

Andrew  Young, 

Matthew  Patterson. 

Edward  Rogers. 

May. 

1781^. 

Od. 

Andrew  Young, 

John  Sedgwick, 

John  Sedgwick. 

• 

Andrew  Young. 

May. 

1785. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

Heman  Swift, 

Matthew  Patterson. 

Matthew  Patterson. 

May. 

1786. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

Heman  Swift, 

Samuel  Wadsworth. 

Matthew  Patterson. 

May. 

1787. 

Oct. 

Matthew  Patterson, 

Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold, 

Heman  Swift. 

Rev.  John  Cornwall. 

May. 

1788. 

Oct. 

Eev.  John  Cornwall, 

Samuel  Wadsworth, 

John  Pierce. 

■     Ebenezer  Jackson. 

May. 

1789. 

Oct. 

Ebenezer  Jackson, 

Samuel  Wadsworth, 

No  choice. 

Ebenezer  Jackson. 

May. 

1790. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

John  Sedgwick. 

Ebenezer  Jackson. 

May. 

1791. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

Timothy  Rogers, 

Dr.  Timothy  Rogers. 

Tryal  Tanner. 

May. 

1792. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

John  Sedgwick, 

Timothy  Rogers. 

Isaac  Swift. 

May. 

1793. 

Oct. 

John  Sedgwick, 

Samuel  Wadsworth, 

Isaac  Swift. 

Tryal  Tanner. 

LIST    OF    REPEESENTATIVES    FROM    STATE    RECORDS. 


233 


May.  179Jf. 

Samuel  "Wadsworth, 
Isaac  Swift. 

May.  1795. 

John  Sedgwick, 
Ebenezer  Jackson. 

May.  1796. 

John  Sedgwick, 
Isaac  Swift. 

May.  1797. 

John  Sedgwick, 
Isaac  Swift. 

May.  1798. 

Elijah  Steele,  Jr., 
Tryal  Tanner. 

May.  1799. 

John  Sedgwick, 
Isaac  Swift, 

May.  1800. 

Judah  Kellogg, 
John  Sedgwick. 

May.  1801. 

Judah  Kellogg, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

May.  1802. 

John  Sedgwick, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

May.  1803. 

Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

May.  180^. 

Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

May.  1805. 

John  Sedgwick, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

May.  1806. 

Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 
30 


Oct. 
No  record. 

Oct. 
Isaac  Swift, 
Samuel  Wadsworth. 

Oct. 
John  Sedgwick, 
Isaac  Swift. 

Oct. 
John  Sedgwick, 
Judah  Kellogg. 

Oct. 
John  Sedgwick, 
Judah  Kellogg. 

Oct. 
Samuel  Wadsworth, 
Judah  Kellogg. 

Oct. 
Judah  Kellogg, 
Samuel  Wadsworth. 

Oct. 
Judah  Kellogg, 
Samuel  Wadsworth. 

Oct. 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Oliver  Burnham, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

Oct. 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 


234 


HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 


May.  1807. 

Oliver  Burnham, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

May.  1808. 

Oliver  Burnham, 
John  Calhoun. 

Maij.  1809. 

Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Mmj.  1810. 

Oliver  Burnham, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

May.  1811. 

John  Sedgwick, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

May.  1812. 

Oliver  Burnham, 
John  Sedgwick. 

May.  1813. 

Oliver  Burnham, 
Noah  Rogers. 

May.  1814. 

Noah  Rogers, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

May.  1815. 

Noah  Rogers, 
John  H.  Pierce. 

May.  1816. 

Oliver  Burnham, 
John  H.  Pierce. 

May.  1817. 

Philo  Swift, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

May.  1818. 

Noah  Rogers, 
Philo  Swift. 

After  this  the  new  Constitution 
resentatives  were  chosen  annually, 


Oct. 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
John  Calhoun, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
John  Sedgwick. 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Oliver  Burnham, 
Benjamin  Gold. 

Oct. 
Reuben  Fox, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Benjamin  Gold, 
Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Oliver  Burnham, 
John  H.  Pierce. 

Oct. 
Oliver  Burnham, 
Philo  Swift. 
Oct. 
'  James  Ailing, 

Oliver  Burnham. 

Oct. 
Philo  Swift, 
Noah  Rogers. 

began  to  operate,  and  the  Rep- 
not  biennially. 


LIST  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  FROM  STATE  RECORDS. 


235 


1819  Oliver  Burnham,  1839 
John  H.  Pierce.  1840 

1820  Oliver  Burnham, 

Wm.  Kellogg.  1841 

1821  William  Bennet, 

Samuel  Hopkins.  1842 

1822  Oliver  Burnham, 

Samuel  Hopkins.  1843 

1823  Oliver  Burnham, 

Samuel  Hopkins.  1844 

1824  Peter  Bierce, 

Benjamin  Sedgwick.  1845 

1825  Peter  Bierce, 

Benjamin  Sedgwick.  1846 

1826  Peter  Bierce, 

John  A.  Sedgwick.  1847 

1827  John  A.  Sedgwick, 

Peter  Bierce.  1848 

1828  Seth  Pierce,  Jr., 

Peter  Bierce.  1849 

1829  Peter  Bierce, 

John  A.  Sedgwick.  1850 

1830  George  Wheaton, 
Frederick  Kellogg.  1851 

1831  George  Wheaton, 
Frederick  Kellogg.  1852 

1832  Benjamin  Catlm, 
Frederick  Kellogg.  1853 

1833  Benjamin  Catlin, 
Victorianus  Clark.  1854 

1834  Victorianus  Clark, 

Philo  Kellogg.  1855 

1835  Philo  Kellogg, 

Anson  Rogers.  1856 

1836  Caleb  Jones, 

William  Clark.  1857 

1837  Caleb  Jones, 

Myron  Harrison.  1858 

1838  Caleb  Jones, 

Benjamin  Sedgwick.  1859 

1839  John  C.  Calhoun, 


Isaac  Marsh. 
Isaac  Marsh, 
John  R.  Harrison. 
John  R.  Harrison, 
Frederick  Kellogg. 
William  Hindman, 
Edwin  White. 
William  Hindman, 
Edwin  White. 
John  Scovill, 
John  E.  Sedgwick. 
Edward  R.  White, 
Joseph  Essex. 
Carrington  Todd, 
William  Hindman. 
Chalker  Pratt, 
John  C.  Calhoun. 
John  Scovill, 
Myron  Harrison. 
Hezekiah  C.  Gregory, 
Reuben  Wilcox. 
Amos  M.  Johnson, 
Charles  Lewis. 
Edward  W.  Andrews, 
Isaac  Marsh. 
Isaac  Marsh, 
Charles  Lewis. 
John  R.  Harrison, 
William  Hindman. 
Jacob  Scovill, 
Henry  Swift. 
Sherman  Barnes, 
Earl  Johnson. 
Jacob  Scovill, 
Samuel  S.  Reed. 
Ralph  C.  Harrison, 
John  W.  Beers. 
Russell  R.  Pratt, 
Edward  F.  Gold. 
Alvin  B.  Palmer, 
George  H.  Swift. 


236 


HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 


1860 

Nathan  Hart,  Jr., 

1869 

M.  A.  Nickerson. 

Rossiter  B.  Hopkins. 

1870 

Wm.  H.  H.  Hewitt, 

1861 

Dwight  W.  Pierce, 

Geo.  C.  Harrison. 

Philo  C.  Sedgwick. 

1871 

Alanson  Preston, 

1862 

Stephen  Foote, 

Niles  Scoville. 

H.  C.  Gregory. 

1872 

Henry  L.  Beers, 

1863 

Marcus  D.  F.  Smith, 

Chester  Wickwire, 

John  McMurtry. 

1873 

Virgil  F.  McNeil, 

1864 

S.  P.  Judson, 

Robert  N.  Cochrane. 

John  McMurtry. 

1874 

Luman  Harrison, 

1865 

Robert  T.  Miner, 

Smith  Beach. 

E.  Burton  Hart. 

1875 

Myron  I.  Millard, 

1866 

Gad  W.  Smith, 

George  H.  Crandall. 

Solon  B.  Johnson. 

1876 

Henry  L.  Beers, 

18fi7 

Silas  C.  Beers, 

Ralph  I.  Scoville. 

H.  C.  Crandall. 

1877 

WilKam  L.  Clark, 

1868 

George  L.  Miner, 

Ingersoll  Reed. 

Edward  Sanford. 

1878 

Elbert  Shepard, 

1869 

William  H.  Harrison, 

Amos  Waterbury. 

Senators  from 

the  Toivn 

heginninrj  in 

1837 

Peter  Bierce. 

1847 

Samuel  W.  Gold. 

1838 

Peter  Bierce. 

1855 

George  A.  Wheaton, 

1844 

Philo  Kellogg. 

1859 

Samuel  W.  Gold. 

1845 

Philo  Kellogg. 

1870 

Victory  C.  Beers. 

MANUFACTURERS  AND  MECHANICS. 

A  detailed  history  of  the  various  manufacturing  establishments 
which  have  sprung  up  in  Cornwall  would  occupy  too  much  space. 
Gen.  Sedgwick  has  given  a  sketch  of  early  enterprises  in  the 
Hollow. 

Capt.  Edward  Rogers  had  a  potashery  near  North  Cornwall  in 
the  time  of  the  Revolution,  and  there  was  one  owned  by  a  company 
on  the  Agur  Judson  farm.  There  was  an  old  forge  near  Chaun- 
cey  Baldwin's,  at  West  Cornwall,  which  stopped  work  in  1828. 
Gardner  Dodge,  Eliakim  Mallory,  and  Eli  Stone  are  names  men- 
tioned as  connected  with  it.  The  ore  was  brought  principally  from 
Salisbury,  yet  some  was  dug  in  Cornwall. 

Adonijah  Pratt,  in  the  last  century,  had  a  carding  machine  and 
fulling   mill  near  where  Gold's  mill  now  stands.      He  was  sue- 


MANUFACTURERS    AND    MECHANICS.  237 

ceeded  by  William  Stoddard,  wlio  built  lower  down  on  the  stream, 
and  afterwards  made  satinet,  followed  by  Gledhill  and  others. 
Another  factory  of  the  same  kind  (Avery's)  was  in  the  south  end 
of  the  town. 

About  1837,  John  Rogers  and  Almon  B.  Pratt  set  up  a  tannery 
near  Stoddard's,  to  dress  deer  and  sheep-skins.  These  were  made 
into  mittens  and  gloves  about  the  town.  WilKam  Smith,  and  M. 
Beers  &  Sons  afterwards  extended  the  business;  and  after  the 
burning  of  the  paper  mill,  built  a  tannery  on  that  spot.  This  was 
also  burned  and  rebuilt,  and  then  converted  into  a  grist  mill  by 
S.  W.  &  T.  S.  Gold,  in  1860.  The  paper  mill  had  been  burned  in 
1846,  just  after  its  completion.  It  was  owned  by  Pratt  &  Poster, 
Noah  Hart,  and  M.  D.  P.  Smith. 

The  Cornwall  Bridge  Iron  Co.  was  formed  in  1833,  and  about 
the  same  date  the  West  Cornwall  Iron  Co.  These  were  blast 
furnaces,  making  pig  iron  from  Salisbury  ore.  The  one  at  West 
Cornwall  stopped  in  1850;  that  at  Cornwall  Bridge  is  still  in  good 
working  order,  with  a  full  stock  of  coal. 

About  1845,  Mr.  Allen  had  a  cupola-furnace  at  West  Cornwall, 
for  casting  stoves,  etc.  Still  earlier,  S.  J.  Gold,  followed  by  Mr. 
Essex,  had  a  casting  shop  at  South  Cornwall. 

Por  twenty-five  years  the  manufacture  of  shears  has  been  carried 
on  at  West  Cornwall,  by  various  parties,  now  by  firms  of  Volmiller 
&  Beck  and  Wood  &  Mallinson. 

C.  &  M.  Beers  had  a  successful  tannery  in  South  Cornwall,  sixty 
years  ago.  Capt.  Clark,  father  of  Pierce  and  Victory,  had  another 
on  the  hill  south  of  Truman  Dibbles;  and  still  later,  Leighton  W. 
Bradley  had  a  tannery  in  the  Hollow  near  the  Baptist  Meeting 
House,  and  carried  on  quite  an  extensive  trade. 

Joel  and  Benjamin  Catlin,  sons  of  Bradley  Cathn,  were  hatters, 
and  had  a  shop  near  the  North  Cornwall  Church,  where  they  made 
hats  till  about  1835.  They  were  active  men  and  quite  prominent 
in  town  affairs.     They  married  sisters  of  Lee  Blinn. 

Blacksmiths  and  shoemakers  were  more  numerous  formerly  than 
at  present;  machine  and  factory  work  now  taking  the  place  of  the 
slower  hand  processes.  Almon  Benedict  had  a  shop  near  E.  D. 
Pratt's  in  1825,  and  Chester  Markham  at  Cornwall  Center;  later, 
Zerah  Dean  had  a  shop  near  Gold's  mill. 

Sixty  years  ago,  tailor  (Josiah  P.  Dean)  Dean's  wife  did  most  of 

the  tailoring  for  North  Cornwall,  succeeded  by  Reuben  Hitchcock. 

John  Dean,  sixty  year  ago,  told  stories  over  his  lapstone,  in  the 

old  house  now  torn  down,  north  of  the  Hitchcock  place.     Alvy 


238  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

Norton,*  familiai'ly  known  as  "Waxey,"  succeeded  by  Samuel 
Wheeler,  made  shoes  on  Cream  Hill,  while  Milo  Dickinson,  Mica- 
jah  Barnum,  Theodore  Ives,  Curtiss  and  Menzies  Beers  followed  the 
same  calling. 

Jeremiah  Coggswell,  father  of  Nathan,  James  Ford,  and  Car- 
rington  Todd  made  barrels. 

Soon  after  the  railroad  was  completed,  Henry  and  Edwin  Ives 
of  Goshen,  with  their  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Baker,  built  a  sash  and 
blind  factory  at  West  Cornwall.  The  Iveses  moved  West,  and 
Baker  to  New  Hartford,  and  the  building  was  used  as  a  carriage 
shop  by  David  Vail,  succeeded  by  Orville  L.  Fitch,  who  came  from 
Salisbury,  Thomas  Bosworth  from  Duchess  County,  and  now  by 
Geo.  W.  Silvernale. 

James  M.  Gardner  built  a  larger  sash  and  blind  shop,  now 
Volmiller's  Bee  Hive,  but  the  business  failed. 

Two  grist-mills  were  early  erected,  special  privileges  being  be- 
stowed for  the  control  of  the  water — the  one  where  Gold's  mill 
now  stands  having  the  right  to  dam  the  lake  for  a  water  supply, 
and  the  other,  below  the  pines  at  South  Cornwall,  having  similar 
rights.  A  story  is  told  of  this  mill,  which  had  wooden  gudgeons, 
and  sometimes  was  run  with  a  lack  of  oil.  The  inhabitants  on 
the  mountains  south  were  aroused  one  night  by  certain  unearthly 
sounds,  like  "Oh,  father!"  "Oh,  mother!"  "Oh,  dear !"  and 
mustered  courage  to  trace  them  to  their  origin.  They  found  old 
Mr.  Kipp,  the  miller,  was  grinding  his  grist,  and  hence  these  lam- 
entations. The  grist-mills  at  West  Cornwall  and  Cornwall  Bridge 
were  built  about  1830. 

Messrs.  Wood  &  Mallinson,  in  1873,  erected  a  cupola-furnace  at 
West  Cornwall  for  the  manufacture  of  Gold's  Sanitary  Heaters, 
and  general  castings.  This  was  burnt  in  1875,  and  rebuilt.  Saw- 
mills have  been  numerous  upon  all  our  streams  of  sufficient  water 
supply,  and  in  some  cases  the  builders  have  been  disappointed  in 
this  respect.  Tradesmen  in  the  different  arts  have  been  enabled  to 
make  a  fair  living,  and  tolerable  success  has  been  awarded  to  our 
manufacturers;  but  agriculture,  with  all  its  difficulties,  has  ever 
been  the  main  support  of  the  inhabitants. 

*  He  was  one  of  the  last  of  those  who  went  about  from  house  to  house  making 
a  stock  of  shoe.s  for  the  family,  an  occupation  known  as  "  whipping  the  cat."  A 
practical  assertion  of  "women's  rights"  over  him,  to  correct  a  little  irregularity 
in  his  domestic  relations,  made  him  famous  in  the  annals  of  the  neighborhood. 
The  women,  though  not  allowed  to  rote,  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  to 
administer  justice. 


CRIMES    AND    CASUALTIES.  239 

CRIMES  AND  CASUALTIES. 

There  are  few  gross  crimes  to  record.  Rev.  William  Green, 
who  was  sentenced  to  state's  prison  for  life  for  the  murder  of  his 
wife,  by  poison,  at  West  Cornwall,  about  1867,  was  only  a  tem- 
porary resident.  We  are  happy  to  say  also  that  the  "Perkins  "  of 
unhappy  notoriety  did  not  belong  here. 

Early  in  the  present  century  Edmund,  son  of  Oliver  Ford,  and 
brother  of  James  Ford,  and  Samuel,  son  of  Bradley  Catlin,  were 
drowned  in  the  pond  on  Cream  Hill,  on  a  Sabbath  evening. 
John  Ford,  a  son  of  James  Ford,  was  drowned  in  the  Housatonic 
about  1842;  also,  a  son  of  Jacob  Garrison  was  drowned  at  West 
Cornwall  about  1845. 

Eber  Johnson  was  killed  by  a  bull  in  the  Hollow  about  1846. 

Mrs.  Hiram  Garner  was  thrown  from  a  wagon  and  killed,  near 
West  Cornwall,  about  1850. 

The  house  of  Dea.  Andrew  Holmes  of  the  Baptist  church,  was 
burnt  in  the  night,  about  1845,  and  his  wife  and  two  children 
perished  in  the  flames.  It  stood  in  the  Housatonic  Valley,  north 
of  West  Cornwall, 

Charles  Baldwin  was  thrown  from  a  wagon  and  killed,  on  the 
turnpike  west  of  Cornwall  Center,  about  1852. 

James  Oats  was  killed  by  the  cars  at  West  Cornwall  about  1846, 
and  Wm.  White  at  Cornwall  Bridge,  about  1868. 

A  son  of  Wallstein  Wadhams  was  killed  by  the  kick  of  a  horse, 
at  Cornwall  Bridge,  about  1872. 

Martin  Cook  was  killed  by  the  fall  of  a  building  in  North  Corn- 
wall in  1874. 

A  little  son  of  Martin  Besancon  went  to  meet  his  father,  who 
was  chopping  in  the  woods,  got  lost,  and  was  frozen  to  death  in 
1874. 

Story  of  the  Convict  Dana. 

On  or  near  the  same  ground  on  which  now  stands  the  house  of 
Capt.  Edward  Gold,  stood  an  old  house  occupied  by  several  fam- 
ilies at  different  times,  one  of  which  was  that  of  Joseph  Judson. 
In  this  house  he  had  a  store.  One  night  his  store  was  broken  open 
and  robbed.  London  Dana  was  arrested  upon  suspicion,  and  in  a 
singular  manner  convicted  of  the  crime  and  sentenced  to  Newgate 
prison  at  Simsbury.  Dana  opened  the  store  through  the  window, 
from  which  he  removed  a  pane  of  glass  by  cutting  out  the  putty 
with  a  knife.     Having  removed  the  pane  of  glass,  he,  with  his 


240  HISTOEY    OF    COENWALL. 

hand,  unloosed  the  shutter  on  the  inside,  and  thus  effected  an 
entrance.  At  a  place  in  the  casement  where  the  putty  was  dug 
out,  was  found  the  point  of  a  knife-blade.  This  was  preserved, 
and,  being  presented,  was  compared  with  the  blade  of  a  knife 
which  Dana  had  in  his  possession.  The  fracture  of  the  blade  of 
his  knife  agreed  perfectly  with  the  point  found  in  the  casement. 
On  this  single  proof  the  villain  was  convicted.  He  was  an  extra- 
ordinary character,  and  the  following  story  was  taken  from  the 
mouth  of  Col.  Humphrey,  the  commandant  of  the  prison  at  Sims- 
bury.  Of  Dana,  he  said  that  he  was  the  most  intractable  and  most 
difficult  to  manage  of  all  the  convicts,  and  of  the  most  determined 
resolution,  giving  the  overseers  of  the  prison  almost  constant  vexa- 
tion. After  being  there  for  a  season,  Dana,  while  making  nails, 
laid  his  right  hand  on  the  anvil,  and  taking  the  hammer  in  his  left, 
he  smashed  the  other  hand  and  fingers,  declaring  with  an  oath  that 
he  would  make  no  more  nails.  His  master  was  not  to  be  conquered 
in  this  way,  and  therefore  ordered  a  frame  and  hopper  to  be  made 
and  sand  brought,  and  directed  Dana  to  pour  the  sand  through  the 
hopper  with  a  ladle,  unremittingly,  while  the  other  convicts  were  at 
work.  This  employment  Dana  pursued  week  after  week.  Finding 
that  it  availed  nothing  in  subduing  his  indomitable  temper, 
Humphrey  adopted  an  expedient  that  effectually  reduced  him.  In 
the  numerous  caverns  of  the  prison  was  a  dungeon,  where  the  light 
of  day  could  not  enter,  and  from  its  rocky  walls  water  was  drip- 
ping constantly.  Here  Dana  was  confined,  chained  to  a  staple  in 
the  rock.  The  furniture  of  his  solitary  cell  consisted  simply  of  a 
bed  of  straw.  At  stated  times  one  of  the  guards  was  sent  to  his 
cavern  to  carry  him  his  bread,  with  an  express  order  not  to  speak 
to  him  a  word.  For  a  long  time  Dana  bore  his  dismal  solitude 
with  invincible  patience.  But  at  length  his  spirit  was  broken.  He 
implored  to  be  allowed  again  to  see  the  light  of  day.  Still  the 
guard  kept  silence.  Finally  the  colonel  went  down,  and  Dana  was 
ready  to  yield  with  the  most  abject  submission,  asked  his  forgive- 
ness, and  went  to  making  nails  with  his  mutilated  hand,  and  con- 
tinued to  the  end  of  his  term  perfectly  obedient. 

Note. — I  have  visited  this  old  prison  at  Sirasbury  and  have  seen 
this  cell,  with  the  staple  in  the  rock,  where  the  most  incorrigible 
were  confined.  An  old  copper  mine,  wrought  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, was  used  to  confine  the  prisoners.  Tories  as  well  as  common 
malefactors  were  here  confined.  t.  s.  g. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  241 

RECORDS  OF  EARL^  AND  PRESENT  RESIDENTS  IN 
CORNWALL. 
Of  some  of  these  we  have  no  record.  Others  have  passed  away, 
and  their  names  are  no  longer  found  here;  tradition  still  survives, 
and  we  gather  up  the  fragments.  Some  are  so  fully  sketched  in 
the  historical  discourses  as  to  need  little  farther  notice.  The 
record  of  the  living  is  still  incomplete,  and  they  are  passed  with 
brief  mention.  I  have  solicited  full  records  from  all.  It  is 
unfortunate  that  so  many  have  failed  to  respond,  as  I  have  labored 
to  make  this  volume  full  in  everything  pertaining  to  Cornwall. 


The  Douglas  Family. 

One  of  the  most  active  pioneers  in  the  settlement  of  this  town 
was  James  Douglas.  He  came  here,  in  1739,  from  Plainfield. 
Cream  Hill  was  his  lot;  it  received  this  name  from  the  superiority 
of  the  soil  and  the  beauty  of  its  scenery.  This  name  was  given  to 
it,  as  Town  Records  show,  before  Mr.  Douglas  purchased.  He 
bought  two  rights  of  Timothy  Pierce  of  Canterbury,  an  original 
proprietor,  in  1738,  for  £400;  also,  he  bought  fifty  acres  on  Cream 
Hill,  on  which  his  first  house  was  built.  The  fifty  acre  lot  was 
purchased  of  Jonah  Bierce  of  New  Fairfield,  who  had  bought  it  of 
Nathan  Lyon  of  Fairfield,  an  original  proprietor.  James  Douglas 
was  brother  of  Benajah,  an  original  proprietor  in  Cornwall,  but 
who  settled  in  North  Canaan,  being  the  ancestor  of  the  Douglas 
family  in  that  town,  and  great-grandfather  of  the  distinguished 
senator,  Stephen  Arnold  Douglas. 

James  Douglas  and  his  wife,  whose  family  name  was  Marsh, 
taught  the  first  school  in  Cornwall,  he  teaching  in  the  winter  and 
his  wife  in  summer.  Cream  Hill,  before  the  woodman's  ax  was 
heard  there,  was  covered  with  lofty  trees  of  various  kinds,  the  sur- 
face not  being  entangled  with  underbrush,  as  much  of  the  forest  in 
town  was.  Mr.  Douglas  was  an  energetic  and  public-spirited  man. 
31 


242  HISTOEY    OF    CORNWALL. 

He  expended  much  labor  in  opening  a  mine  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  in  depth,  for  gold.  Specimens  of  the  ore  were  sent  to 
Boston  for  analysis,  from  which  small  sums  in  gold  were  returned. 
But  the  expense  of  obtaining  it  was  too  great  to  make  it  a  paying 
business.  Another  mine  was  wrought  for  silver,  sixty  feet,  with 
like  results. 

He  is  said  to  have  wintered  the  first  stock  in  town, — a  horse  and 
yoke  of  oxen.  Heavy  snows  caught  him  unprepared.  Deer  were 
abundant;  the  boiled  flesh  made  a  nutritious  soup  for  the  cattle, 
which,  with  browse  from  the  trees  felled  for  the  purpose,  was  their 
support.  The  horse  refused  both,  but  ate  hair  from  the  skins,  and 
moss  from  the  trees  gathered  in  blankets. 

Mr.  Douglas,  about  1748,  erected  a  large  two-story  house,  which, 
about  two  years  after  its  completion,  was  unfortunately  burned 
down,  and  he  built  the  house  now  standing  on  the  same  ground, 
which  he  occupied  till  his  death.  This  is  supposed  to  be  the  oldest 
occupied  house  in  town.  Capt.  Hezekiah  Gold,  son  of  Kev. 
Hezekiah  Gold,  who  married  Rachel  Wadsworth,  granddaughter 
of  Mr.  James  Douglas,  purchased  this  property  about  1790,  of  Mr. 
Joseph  Wadsworth,  a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Douglas.  This  house  and 
farm  is  at  present  (1877)  owned  by  T.  S.  Gold. 

Farmers  were  then  their  own  mechanics.  The  old  tan  vat, 
where  James  Douglas  tanned  his  own  leather,  was  but  recently 
filled  up,  —  on  the  bank  of  the  small  stream  now  called  the 
'•  Gutter,"  near  his  house. 

Mr.  Douglas  had  three  sons  and  four  daughters.  The  eldest 
of  the  daughters,  Sarah,  married  Capt.  Samuel  Wadsworth;  the 
youngest,  Eunice,  married  Mr.  Joseph  Wadsworth ;  another,  Olive, 
married  for  her  first  husband,  a  Mr.  Johnson,  and  after  his  death, 
Dea.  Ehakim  Mallory.  The  other  daughter,  Mary  (or  Rachel), 
married  a  Mr.  Taylor,  of  New  Marlboro,  Mass.  Two  sons,  William 
and  James  Marsh,  having  sold  their  property  on  Cream  Hill, 
removed  to  Vermont,  where  some  of  their  descendants  at  present 
reside.  James  Marsh  married  Rhoda,  sister  of  Judge  Burnham, 
of  Cornwall.     The  other  son,  John,  died  in  1763,  aged  fourteen. 

In  the  old  cemetery  at  South  Cornwall,  we  find  the  tombstones 
of  James  Douglas  and  his  wife  thus  inscribed: 

James  Douglas,  Died  Aug.  18,  1785,  «.  74. 

Mortals  Awake 
Your  time  review,  think  on 
Death,  Eternity  is  near. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  243 

Rachel,  wife  of  James  Douglas,  died  April  23,  1790,  fe.  78. 
Life  how  short. 
Eternity  how  long. 

I  am  indebted  to  Charles  H.  James  Douglas,  of  Providence,  R.  I., 
author  of  the  "Douglas  Genealogy,"  for  the  ancestral  record  of 
James  Douglas. 

Dea.  William'  Douglas,  b.  1610;  m.  Ann,  d.  of  Thomas  Marble, 
of  Kingstead,  Northamptonshire;  landed  at  Cape  Ann  1639-40; 
removed  to  New  London  1660;  d.  July  25,  1682.  Had  five  chil- 
dren. 

Dea.  William^  Douglas,  fifth  child  of  Dea.  William',  b.  April  1, 
1645;  m.  Dec.  18,  1667,  Abiah,  d.  of  William  Hough,  of  New 
London,  and  had  eight  children. 

Dea.  William^  Douglas,  third  child  of  Dea.  William-,  b.  Feb.  19, 
1672-3;  m.  Sarah  Proctor,  about  1695,  and  in  1699  removed  to 
Plainfield.  He  was  one  of  a  little  company  who,  in  1705,  cove- 
nanted together  and  formed  a  little  church  at  Plainfield,  of  which 
he  was  chosen  first  deacon.  He  had  twelve  children,  of  which 
Thomas,  the  eleventh,  was  also  deacon,  and  settled  in  Voluntown 
(now  Sterling). 

James  Douglas,  tenth  child  of  Dea.  William^  b.  May  20,  1711; 
d.  Aug.  18,  1785,  aged  seventy-four. 

The  Wadsworth  Family. 

Piev.  Samuel  Wadsworth  was  a  minister  in  Killingly.  He  had 
three  sons,  who  came  to  Cornwall  about  1740, — Samuel,  Joseph, 
and  James. 

Samuel  Wadsworth  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  James  Douglas, 
and  had  only  one  child,  Rachel,  who  married  Hezekiah  Gold.  By 
her  he  received,  her  father's  farm  on  Cream  Hill,  which  has  passed 
by  descent  to  the  present  owner,  T.  S.  Gold.  Samuel  Wadsworth 
died  Jan.  2,  1813,  aged  sixty-six.  Sarah,  his  wife,  died  April  16, 
1820,  aged  seventy-seven.* 

Joseph  Wadsworth  married  another  daughter  of  James  Douglas, 
— Eunice,  and  had  three  sons,  Warren,  Samuel,  and  Douglas. 
About  1800  he  sold  his  farm  on  Cream  Hill  to  Hezekiah  Gold,  and 
removed  to  Goshen,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y. 

James  Wadsworth  married  Irene  Palmer,  and  had  a  son,  Dea. 
James  Wadsworth,  one  daughter,  who  married  an  Ingersoll  from 


*  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  I  remember  her,  though  but  two  years  old  at  the 
time  of  her  death.     (T.  S.  G.j 


244  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Bethlehem,  and  a  second  daughter,  who  married  Hawley  Reed,  of 
Cornwall. 

Dea.  James  Wadsworth  had  sons — John  Palmer,  a  farmer  living 
in  New  Marlborough,  Mass. ;  Stiles,  Franklin,  Henry,  a  Congrega- 
tional minister  in  New  Jersey;  and  one  daughter,  who  married 
Darius  Miner,  and  lives  in  Torrington.  His  children  had  all  left 
town  previous  to  the  death  of  Dea.  James  Wadsworth,  and  the 
dwelling,  with  a  portion  of  the  farm,  was  purchased  by  T.  S.  Gold. 

Industry,  frugality,  and  simple  Christian  consecration  were 
characteristics  of  Dea,  Wadsworth  and  his  wife,  and  though  their 
descendants  have  all  removed,  yet  will  their  memories  long  be 
cherished  by  their  friends  and  neighbors. 

Joshua  Pierce,  the  father  of  Joshua,  John,  and  Seth  Pierce, 
and  of  several  daughters,  belonged  to  Pembroke,  of  Plymouth 
County,  Mass.  He  bought  the  place  now  occupied  by  Maj.  Seth 
Pierce,  May  17,  1748,  consisting  of  three  hundred  and  three  acres, 
of  Joshua  Jewel.  Joshua  Pierce  was  the  venerable  ancestor  of 
the  Pierce  family.  lie  was  a  poor  boy,  put  out  to  a  hard  master, 
who  treated  him  with  much  unkindness  and  severity.  But  when 
he  became  of  age,  the  severe  training  which  he  had  received  made 
him  an  industrious,  economical,  and  respectable  citizen.  He  gave 
half  his  wages  of  one  year's  hire,  when  living  at  Pembroke,  for 
the  building  of  a  house  for  the  worship  of  God.  He  was  remark- 
ably prosperous  in  acquiring  property.  He  gave  £3,000  for  his 
farm,  which  he  bought  of  Jewel.  He  here  increased  in  wealth, 
and  was  very  liberal  towards  all  benevolent  objects  and  ever 
remembered  the  poor;  and  such  was  his  reputation  and  standing 
that  he  was  one  of  the  first  chosen  to  represent  the  town  in  the 
legislature,  to  which  place  he  was  re-elected  for  ten  different 
sessions.  He  was  a  good  ministerial  man  for  the  sake  of  their 
sacred  office.  He  showed  himself  a  genuine  descendant  of  the 
Puritans  in  principle  and  feeling.  Generally  the  descendants  of 
this  venerable  Joshua  Pierce  have  been  prosperous  and  respectable, 
having  a  blessing  resting  upon  them.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
eighty  years,  on  March  13,  1794.  He  had  five  daughters.  Eliza- 
beth and  Eleanor  married  two  brothers,  Amos  and  Solomon  John- 
son. Sarah,  the  second  daughter,  married  Jonathan  Chandler. 
The  younger,  Priscilla,  and  Anna,  married  Perez  and  Titus  Bonney, 
two  brothers.  Mr.  Pierce  married,  for  his  second  wife,  a  widow 
Starr,  from  Danbury. 


RECORDS    OP    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  245 

Joshua,  second,  his  oldest  son,  had  children, — Joshua,  Samuel, 
Captain  John,  and  Lorain,  who  married  Captain  Nehemiah  Clark. 

Joshua,  third,  married  Betsey  Paine,  and  had  children, — JMills, 
a  farmer  in  Cornwall;  Fayette,  who  went  to  New  York;  Colonel 
Dwight,  who  remained  in  Cornwall;  and  a  daughter,  who  married 
Dr.  B.  B.  North. 

Captain  John,  the  youngest  son  of  Joshua,  second,  had  daughters 
who  married  Menzies  Beers  and.  Rexford  Baldwin,  and  remained  in 
Cornwall;  and  two  sons,  who  removed  to  Plymouth.  His  second 
wife,  Sally  Russel,  still  survives,  living  with  her  daughters  at 
Cornwall. 

John,  second  son  of  the  elder  Joshua,  lived  where  William 
Harrison  now  lives.  He  had  one  daughter,  who  married  in 
Washington.  He  went  to  live  with  her,  and  died  there,  aged 
about  ninety. 

Captain  Seth  Pierce,  the  youngest  son,  inherited  the  homestead. 
He  was  a  very  liberal  man.  When  the  old  meeting-house  was 
moved  down  to  the  plain,  he  put  on  one  bent  at  his  own  expense. 
He  was  a  large  and  thrifty  farmer,  breeding  horses  and  cattle  in 
large  numbers,  having  at  one  time  eighteen  horses.  At  this  time 
Captain  Pierce  and  Noah  Rogers  were  the  largest  landholders  in 
town,  each  listing  over  one  thousand  acres. 

He  had  sons,  Major  Seth  and  John  H. ;  and  daughters,  who 
married  Franklin  Gold,  Oliver  Chapin,  and  Ezekiel  Birdseye. 
Major  Seth  inherited  the  homestead,  which  he  still  holds  at  the 
age  of  ninety- two.  He  graduated  at  Yale  in  the  class  of  1806, 
and,  having  been  born  May  16,  1785,  is  the  oldest  living  graduate 
of  the  college.  A  bachelor,  his  life  has  been  that  of  a  quiet 
farmer,  and  he  still  enjoys  good  health  in  his  green  old  age,  and 
is  much  respected  by  his  fellow-citizens.  John  H.,  second  son, 
was  a  farmer;  -built  the  corner  house,  so  called,  which  he  occupied; 
and  was  killed  about  1825,  having  been  crushed  by  a  cart. 

Doctor  Jonathan  Hurlburt  came  from  that  part  of  Farmington 
now  called  Southington,  having  bought  of  Timothy  Orton  120 
acres,  in  1746.  He  is  thought  to  have  been  the  first  that  practiced 
medicine  in  the  township.  It  seems  that  his  medical  profession 
was  not  his  only  employment.  He  was  also  a  mechanic,  and  made 
plows.  His  son  Ozias  lived  and  died  on  the  same  place  where 
his  father  did,  a  Ifttle  south  of  the  Sedgwicks.  He  had  a  natural 
taste  for  poetry,  and  published  a  poem  on  the  great  hail  storm 
which  occurred  in  the  summer  of  1799.     He  lived  to  a  good  old  age. 


246  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

His  brother,  Joab,  lived  near  him,  and  died  some  years  before  him. 
Both  are  buried  in  the  old  Cornwall  Hollow  cemetery. 

Mathew  Millard,  from  East  Haddam,  was  one  of  the  early 
permanent  citizens  in  Cornwall.  He  located  and  built  on  the  west 
side  of  the  street  opposite  to  the  house  of  the  late  Judge  Burnham. 
He  was  one  of  the  largest  land-holders  in  Cornwall;  was  a  very 
respectable  citizen,  and  was  authorized  to  obtain  a  minister  at  the 
first  town  meeting.  Mr.  Millard  had  but  one  child  that  lived  to  ma- 
ture age — a  daughter,  Achsah.  She  married  Elisha  Steele  of  West 
Hartford,  called  Deacon  Steele,  who,  after  the  death  of  his  father- 
in-law,  occupied  his  house  and  homestead.  The  house  was  sold  to 
Wm.  Tanner  (called  Great  Tanner  on  account  of  his  extraordinary 
size),  a  native  of  Rhode  Island.  John  Jones  bought  the  house 
and  place  of  Tanner,  and  afterwards  it  was  purchased  by  Judge 
Burnham,  and  occupied  by  him  till  he  bought  the  habitation  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer. 

Samuel  Messenger  of  Harwinton,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers, 
a  surveyor,  a  very  active  and  useful  inhabitant.  His  residence  was 
on  the  spot  where  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  built  and  lived,  at  the 
Center.  Mr.  Messenger  was  here  in  the  summer  of  1739.  He 
bought  a  whole  right  of  Ephraim  Smedley  of  Woodbury,  soon  after 
the  sale  of  the  town  in  1738. 

According  to  town  records,  Mr.  Messenger's  son  Daniel,  who 
was  born  March  18th  (old  style),  1740,  was  the  first  birth  of  the 
early  settlers  of  the  town.  Mr.  Messenger,  in  four  or  five  years, 
sold  his  place  to  his  brother  Nehemiah  Messenger,  and  he,  in  1757, 
sold  to  one  Joseph  Mather.  The  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  then  was 
settled  here  as  minister,  and  bought  the  place  of  Mr.  Mather,  and 
erected  the  house  which  he  occupied  until  his  decease,  in  1790. 
His  youngest  son,  Wakeman,  owned  the  house  and  homestead, 
and  he  having  sold  to  Captain  Peck,  removed  to  Pompey,  N.  Y. 
Captain  Peck  sold  to  Theodore  Norton,  from  Goshen.  The  next 
owner  was  Mr.  Darius  Miner,  followed  by  his  son-in-law,  Mr. 
Johnson,  who  erected  a  new  house  in  place  of  the  old  one.  His 
widow  and  family  still  reside  there. 

George  Hollow  ay,  from  Pembroke  in  Massachusetts,  came  with 
his  brother  John  to  this  town  from  New  Fairfield,  in  the  spring, 
1740.  He  was  the  most  prominent  among  tl^e  first  settlers  in 
office,  character,  and  influence.  He  was  directed  by  the  Assembly 
to  call  the  first  town  meeting;  was  a  justice  of  the  peace,  first  town 
clerk,  captain  of  the  militia,  and  bore  the  title  of  Doctor  Holloway. 


EECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  247 

His  handwriting  in  the  first  Town  Records  is  quite  ordinary,  and 
his  orthography  more  imperfect.  He  had  a  wife,  but  no  children. 
His  brother  John,  who  for  some  years  survived  him,  never 
married. 

At  the  public  worship  which  our  forefathers  regarded  with  the 
strictest  pertinacity  at  the  very  first  of  tlieir  settlement,  and  when 
they  had  no  public  teacher,  and  when  Daniel  Rugg  was  by 
town  rule  to  pitch  the  tune  for  the  choir,  it  was  the  allotted  duty 
of  Doctor  Holloway  to  select  and  read  the  Psalm.  He  was  consid- 
ered to  be  one  of  the  most  wealthy  men  in  town.  He  settled  on 
the  hill  near  the  first  meeting-house,  and  erected  the  house  which 
Ithamer  Baldwin  occupied  many  years,  and  which  was  on  the  same 
ground  on  which  his  widow  resides.  Mr.  George  Holloway  died  in 
middle  life,  and  having  been  too  much  engaged  in  public  life  he 
had  necessarily  neglected  his  private  affairs,  and  left  his  estate 
insolvent. 

Woodruff  Emmons  became  the  owner  of  the  Holloway  house, 
and  kept  a  tavern  there  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 

The  Emmons  Tavern. 

One  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  center  of  the  town  there  was  a 
tavern  of  some  notoriety  in  its  day,  which  stood  near  the  summit 
of  a  high  hill,  overlooking  in  a  southern  direction  a  wide  extent  of 
country,  embracing  a  beautiful  valley. 

The  building  was  distinguished  by  the  peculiar  architecture  not, 
altogether  uncommon  at  that  period  in  the  construction  of  the 
better  class  of  dwellings.  Large  massive  scrolls  and  roses  of 
carved  work  ornamented  the  tops  and  sides  of  the  doorways,  while 
the  windows,  of  six  by  eight  glass,  were  surmounted  by  heavy 
angular  projecting  caps.  The  doors  were  wrought  with  curvili- 
near styles  and  panels,  surmounted  also  like  the  windows  with  the 
angular  projecting  caps.  The  body  of  the  house  was  painted  a 
light  red,  the  windows  and  doors  being  trimmed  with  white.  The 
large  square  chimney -top  exhibited,  neatly  cut  in  a  stone  on  its 
front  side,  the  figures  1758,  being  the  year  in  which  the  house  was 
built.  Few  dwellings  at  the  present  day  exhibit  so  elaborate  a 
finish  as  appeared  in  its  exterior.  The  interior  was  more  plain. 
The  best  rooms,  however,  were  finished  with  a  dark,  heavy  wain- 
scot, nearly  half  way  to  the  ceiling  above,  on  three  sides,  while  on 
the  fourth  the  wood-work  covered  the  whole.  A  plaster  of  lime 
mortar  covered  the  remaining   portions  of   the   walls.      On    the 


248  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

chimney  side  of  each  of  the  front  rooms  there  was  a  huge  fire- 
place, with  a  wooden  manteltree,  in  the  wainscoting  above  which 
there  was  inserted  an  immense  panel,  some  four  or  five  feet  in 
breadth.  The  remaining  parts  of  the  house  were  done  with  plain 
wooden  ceilings,  leaving  the  joists,  which  were  neatly  planed, 
naked  overhead.  The  wood- work  was  painted  either  red  or  blue; 
the  latter  being  considered  the  most  genteel  color,  was  applied  to 
the  two  front  rooms  of  the  first  story — the  one  being  used  for  the 
best  room  or  parlor,  and  the  other  as  the  bar-room.  In  one 
corner  of  the  latter  was  a  space  six  feet  square,  parted  off  by  a 
ceiling  four  and  a  haK  feet  high.  This  inclosure  was  called  the  Bar. 
Around  the  two  posterior  sides  of  the  bar  were  placed  several 
shelves  containing  various  articles,  of  which  the  most  conspicuous 
were  several  square  bottles  filled  with  different  kinds  of  liquors. 
One  was  labeled  Old  Holland  Gin,  another  French  Brandy,  and  a 
third  Orange-peel  Bitters.  By  the  side  of  these  stood  drinking 
vessels  of  various  kinds,  some  of  glass  and  others  of  pewter.  A 
large  conical  loaf  of  white  sugar,  enclosed  in  a  thick  dark  purple 
paper,  was  also  conspicuous,  while  beside  it  stood  a  large,  round, 
covered  wooden  box,  containing  many  broken  pieces  of  the  same, 
ready  for  use.  The  furniture  of  the  bar-room  consisted  of  a  large 
heavy  oaken  table,  composed  of  a  single  leaf,  one  or  two  forms  or 
benches,  and  some  half  dozen  splint-bottomed  chairs. 

The  house  here  described  stood  upon  a  terrace  some  three  or  four 
feet  high,  sustained  on  two  sides  by  a  wall  of  unhewn  stones,  the 
entrance  being  up  a  flight  of  large  stone  steps;  the  side-hill  posi- 
tion of  the  building  rendering  this  arrangement  quite  convenient. 
Just  exterior  to  this  terrace,  and  about  thirty  feet  from  the  build- 
ing, stood  the  sign-post,  from  the  rectangular  bar  of  which  was 
suspended  the  sign. 

In  front  of  this  tavern  was  an  open  space  or  common,  sixteen 
rods  in  width  and  forty  in  length,  called  the  green;  it  was  nearly 
destitute  of  trees,  and  furnished  the  ordinary  parade  ground  for 
the  militia,  and  place  for  town  gatherings  on  gala  days  or  other 
public  occasions.*     On  the  opposite  side  of  the  green  from  the  tav- 

*From  the  papers  of  Capt.  Edward  Rogers,  we  select  a  bill  from  this  tavern 
showing  the  depreciated  state  of  the  currency  : 

The  Comassary  General  of  Forrage, 

to  Samuel  Bassitt,        Dr. 

To  keeping  Colo"  Sprought's  2  horses  6  days  on  hay  that  was  good  in  Stable, 
£6  14s.  4c?.  Sam'l  Bassitt. 

January  1780. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY   AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  249 

ern,  and  near  the  northwest  corner,  stood  the  meeting-house,  a  large 
and  respectable  looking  edifice,  where  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  usually  met  on  the  Sabbath.  Fronting  the  extreme  southern 
part  of  the  common  or  green,  stood  the  parsonage  of  the  Rev. 
Hezekiah  Gold;  about  half  a  dozen  other  dwellings  completed  the 
center  village. 

Whipping-Post  and  Stocks. 

About  six  rods  from  the  tavern,  and  directly  in  front  of  it,  near 
the  traveled  path,  stood  a  wooden  post  about  ten  inches  square,  and 
seven  feet  in  height  placed  firmly  and  perpendicularly  in  the  earth. 
Near  the  ground  a  large  mortice  was  made  through  the  post,  in 
which  were  placed  the  ends  of  two  stout  pieces  of  plank,  five  feet  in 
length,  lying  edgewise,  one  to  the  other.  The  under  one  was  made 
immovable  in  the  post,  wliile  the  upper  plank  was  movable  up  and 
down  by  a  hinge-like  motion.  Between  the  edges  of  these  planks 
were  four  round  holes,  one-half  of  each  hole  being  cut  from  each 
plank;  the  two  half  circles  when  joined  made  an  opening  of  the  right 
size  to  embrace  a  person's  ankles.  On  the  outer  ends  of  these  hori- 
zontal planks  were  appended  a  stout  iron  hasp  and  staples,  designed 
when  in  use  to  be  secured  in  place  with  a  heavy  padlock.  The 
fixture  here  described  answered  the  double  purpose  of  posting- 
warnings  for  town  meetings  or  other  public  notices,  as  well  as  for  a 
whipping-post  and  stocks. 

A  spot  like  the  Center  Village,  connected  so  intimately  with 
many  revolutionary  incidents,  is  deemed  worthy  of  the  particular 
notice  here  given.  Time  has  wrought  many  changes  in  the  place 
since  that  memorable  era.  The  broad  common  has,  by  the  cupidity 
of  adjoining  proprietors,  been  reduced  to  the  width  of  an  ordinary 
highway.  The  venerable  church  has  long  since  been  removed, 
and  given  place  to  one  of  quite  a  different  construction;  and  the 
famous  old  tavern  has  relinquished  its  commanding  seat  upon  the 

The  Comassary  General  of  Forrage, 

to  Asa  Emmons,        Dr. 
To  keeping  Colo'^  Sprought's  2  horses  1  week  in  Stable'*  at  good  hay,  £9  0  0. 

Asa  Emmons. 
February  1780. 

The  Comassary  General  of  Forrage, 

to  Salmon  Emmons,         Dr. 
To  keeping  Col'  Sprought's  2  horses  4  weeks  &  1   day,  Stabled  on  good  hay 
at  15  dolars  p'  head  p'  weak,  £37  :  6s  :  6c?. 

Salmon  Emons. 
December  1779  «&.  January  1780. 

32 


250  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

hill-side,  which  is  now  occupied  by  a  handsome  residence  of  more 
modern  style.  The  stocks  and  whipping-post  have  disappeared, 
and  are  to  be  found  nowhere  within  the  limits  of  the  State;  a 
change  caused  by  the  onward  march  of  a  more  enlightened  and 
refined  civilization. 

The  old  parsonage  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gold  has  recently 
been  removed,  and  the  spot  is  now  occupied  by  a  handsome  mod- 
ern edifice  owned  and  occupied  by  the  family  of  Mr.  Palmer  John- 
son. About  1820,  Erastus  Gaylord  kept  a  store  on  the  corner  of 
this  green,  south  of  the  old  tavern.  He  removed  to  Madison, 
N.  y.,  in  1827,  but  the  store  was  continued  by  others  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  Here  was  the  post-office  of  Cornwall,  till  it  was 
removed  to  the  Plain  about  1850.  For  many  years  this  was  the 
only  office  in  town,  which  now  boasts  of  six  offices. 

When  we  consider  the  events  which  here  transpired  during  the 
stormy  period  of  the  Revolution ;  when  we  contemplate  that  this 
now  quiet  hill  was  then  alive  and  resounding  with  the  bustle  of 
those  who  came,  leaving  the  plow  in  the  furrow,  and  the  grain 
ungathered  in  the  field,  to  peril  fortune  and  life  for  their  country 
in  its  awful  extremity;  that  here,  as  upon  one  of  Nature's  great 
altars,  many  a  heart  was  devoted  to  the  sacred  cause  of  freedom, 
and  that  here  were  often  gathered  bands  of  stalwart  men  whose 
minds  glowed  with  patriotic  fire;  that  here,  on  this  very  spot,  they 
pledged  themselves  on  the  issue  of  the  great  cause  in  which  they 
engaged  for  victory  or  death.  Who  can  fail,  as  the  mind's  eye 
dwells  upon  this  consecrated  spot,  to  venerate  those  once  throbbing 
•hearts,  glowing  minds,  and  stalwart  forms  which  have  long  since 
passed  away. 

But  the  hill-side,  with  all  its  rural  beauties,  still  remains,  and 
who  can  contemplate  its  bold  and  picturesque  scenery  and  not  feel 
his  heart  glow  with  something  of  that  same  old  fire  of  seventy-six, 
and  entertain  a  purer  and  holier  devotion  for  the  welfare  of  our 
common  country  ? 

John  Clothier,  who  was  one  of  the  first  permanent  settlers, 
resided  for  some  time  on  Cream  Hill,  and  finally  settled  on  the 
Cotter  place,  near  the  Housatonic  river.  This  farm  of  160  acres 
was  made  a  present  to  him  by  Thomas  Ballard,  who  had  no  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Ballard  was  from  Plainfield.  He  first  settled  almost 
opposite  the  house  of  Noah  Rogers,  from  whence  he  removed  to 
the  Cotter  farm. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  251 

Samuel  Abbott  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  from  Danbury. 
He  located  in  the  FJast  Street.  He  first  erected  a  log-house,  and 
afterwards  a  large  and  commodious  residence  a  few  rods  southwest 
of  the  house  of  the  late  Ebenezer  Birdsey.  This  house  was 
burned  in  the  middle  of  the  day  by  the  accidental  ignition  of  dry 
flax,  supposed  by  means  of  a  cat.  This  was  before  the  existence 
of  insurance  on  buildings  or  their  contents — all  the  furniture  and 
clothing  of  the  family  being  in  the  house,  were,  with  it,  totally  con- 
sumed, which  calamity  at  once  reduced  Mr.  Abbott  from  a  state 
of  affluence  to  poverty. 

Mr.  Abbott  was  a  very  worthy  citizen,  and  for  several  years  a 
deacon  of  the  Congregational  Church.  His  children  were  Samuel, 
Abel,  Nathan,  Seeley,  and  Daniel,  and  a  daughter  who  married 
Jesse  Jerrods,  from  Long  Island.  Samuel  Abbott,  Jr.,  is  said  to 
have  been  regardless  of  religion  until  he  was  more  than  eighty 
years  old.  He  did  not  attend  public  worship,  but  in  1811  he  was 
in  a  surprising  manner  changed  in  his  views  of  religion.  At  the 
time  of  a  revival,  he  became  under  deep  conviction,  which  he 
struggled  desperately  to  suppress.  After  a  time  his  heart  yielded 
to  the  power  of  Divine  Truth,  and  he  became  a  humble  and  earnest 
Christian,  and  united  with  the  Congregational  Church  in  South 
Cornwall.  He  lived  to  be  eighty-six  years  old,  and  died  in  the 
full  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality. 

Thomas  Tanner,  one  of  the  original  settlers,  came  from  Litch- 
field, with  his  son  William,  being  of  age.  Thomas  settled  on  the 
old  road  east  of  the  Burnham  place,  and  died  there;  house  since 
occupied  by  John  Kellogg.  Wilham  had  sons, — Consider,  who 
removed  to  Ellsworth;  Ephraim,  to  Warren,  and  kept  tavern 
opposite  the  meeting-house;  Tryal  built  the  gambrel-roofed  house 
since  owned  by  Tyler  Miner,  and  early  in  this  century  went  to 
Ohio,  Joseph  to  Green  River,  N.  Y.  Dea.  Ebenezer  Tanner  was 
also  a  son  of  William. 

Jethro  Bonney,  and  his  brother  Perez,  came  from  Pembroke, 
Mass.,  about  1760.  Jethro  owned  the  Beardsley  place,  and  after- 
wards the  Judson  place.  Perez  settled  on  Clark  Hill,  and  had 
sons, — Perez,  Titus,  Asa,  and  Jairus.  Perez  and  Titus  married 
Priscilla  and  Anne,  sisters  of  J.  Beirce.  Stephen,  son  of  Perez, 
occupied  the  same  place  as  his  father.  Titus  lived  on  Clark  Hill 
till  1813,  when,  with  his  oldest  son,  John,  and  his  son-in-law, 
Joshua  Bradford  Sherwood,  he  went  to  Nelson,  O.  Jairus  was  a 
soldier,  deserted,  and  went  to  the  District  of  Maine. 


252  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

The  Burnham  place  was  sold  in  1757,  by  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer 
(eighty-five  and  one-half  acres,  house,  barn,  and  orchard),  to  Noah 
Bull,  of  Farmington.  That  house  is  still  standing,  being  the  back 
part  of  the  Burnham  homestead.  In  1759  Noah  Bull  sold  to  Joel 
Gillett,  of  Great  Nine  Partners,  N.  Y.  Judge  Burnham  bought 
the  place  in  1792,  of  Jerrett  Kettletop,  of  New  York  city. 

Record  of  the  Burnham  Family. 
Oliver  Burnham  m.  Sarah,  dau.  of  Noah  Rogers,  third,  and  had 
children, — Oliver  Rogers;  Franklin;  William;  Rhoda,  m.  Victori- 
anus  Clark;  Mary  A.,  m.  Rev.  A.  Judson;  Clarissa,  m.  Alvin 
North;  Emily  F.,  m.  Rev.  John  Clark  Hart;  Harriet,  m.  Rev. 
Grove  Brownell. 

Dr.  Russell  came  from  Guilford.  Sold  the  Holloway  House,  in 
April,  1777,  to  Salmon,  son  of  Woodruff  Emmons.  Dr.  Russell, 
with  his  father-in-law,  John  Pattison,  removed  to  Piermont,  N.  H. 
This  was  the  Emmons  tavern  (elsewhere  described),  torn  down 
about  1846  by  Ithamar  Baldwin,  who  built  upon  the  site. 

Ebenezer  Sherwood,  son  of  John  Sherwood,  of  Fairfield,  a 
Baptist  minister,  and  one  of  the  early  proprietors,  in  1770  settled 
on  the  farm  afterwards  owned  by  Parson  Stone,  now  (1877)  the 
estate  of  John  C.  Calhoun.  He  died  in  1785.  His  daughter 
married  Joel  Millard,  son  of  Nathan  Millard,  and  lived  on  Cream 
Hill. 

Timothy  Cole,  from  New  Milford,  married  Rebekah,  daughter 
of  old  Sergeant  John  Dibble,  lived  south  of  Truman  Dibble,  and 
died  in  1783.  He  was  uncle  of  John  and  David  Cole,  who  came 
from  same  town.  His  son  Ezra  built  the  house  formerly  occupied 
by  Timothy  Bronson,  and  in  1845  by  W.  Barber.  Seth  sold  his 
place  in  1800  to  Asa  Emmons.  Thaddeus,  having  lived  at  Rogers' 
mill,  went  to  Tioga,  N.  Y.  John  Cole  bought  of  Orlo  Allen;  had 
three  sons, — Edmund,  Irad,  and  Martin,  who  had  the  mill  where 
now  stands  Gold's  grist-mill;  the  saw-mill  on  the  turnpike  near 
West  Cornwall,  now  Henry  Cole's;  and  built  the  grist-mill  at 
West  Cornwall,  now  owned  by  Wood  and  Mallinson.  David  Cole 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  but  his  health  failed,  and  he  came  to 
Cornwall  in  1773.  Had  one  daughter,  Rachel,  who  married  Wil- 
liam Allen.  He  lived  at  Cole's  mill,  a  few  rods  west  of  his  brother 
John. 

Jonathan  Squires,  an  original  purchaser  of  two  rights,   was 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    TRESENT    RESIDENTS.  253 

another  enterprising  pioneer  from  Plainfield.  In  1739  he  settled 
on  Cream  Hill,  southwest  from  Mr.  Douglas's  place,  on  the  road 
(long  since  discontinued)  leading  from  Rexford's  to  the  grist-mill. 
His  son  Reuben,  who  came  with  him,  established  himself  on  the 
place  where  Captain  Joel  Wright  resided,  which  property  now 
belongs  to  his  only  son,  John  Wright.     (Thomas  Wilson,  1877.) 

Jonathan  Squires  was  a  man  of  activity,  and  was  frequently 
employed  in  the  public  business  of  the  town.  But  few  of  the  first 
settlers  were  more  wealthy  than  he.  A  daughter  of  his  married 
Mr.  Samuel  Scovill,  grandfather  of  Jacob  Scovill,  Esq.  Mr. 
Squires  died  in  this  place  at  an  advanced  age. 

The  Rugg  Family. 
Thomas  Rugg,  in  1739.  came  from  Woodbury  and  built  a  house 
on  Rugg  Hill,  near  the  Housatonic  River.  As  the  "hard  winter" 
set  in,  he  left  his  wife  and  three  small  children,  and  went  to 
Woodbury  to  obtain  supplies,  expecting  to  be  absent  but  a  few 
days.  Before  he  could  return,  there  came  on  a  terrific  snow-storm 
which  lasted  many  days.  The  scanty  supply  of  food  in  the  house 
was  exhausted,  and  one  of  the  children  died  from  starvation,  and 
they  might  all  have  perished  from  the  same  cause  had  not  Mr. 
Douglass,  living  on  Cream  Hill,  went  on  his  snow-shoes  to  inquire 
after  them.  Finding  them  in  this  suffering  condition,  he  brought 
them  all  on  his  ox-sled  to  his  house,  and  kindly  cared  for  their 
necessities  until  Mr.  Rugg's  return.  This  family,  disheartened  by 
their  afflictions,  returned  in  the  spring  to  Woodbury. 

The  Johnson  Family. 
Amos  Johnson  removed  from  Branford  to  Cornwall  in  1742. 
He  was  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  two  sons.  His  wife  was 
Amy  Palmer,  a  sister  of  Solomon  Palmer,  the  first  settled  minister 
in  Cornwall.  Mr.  Johnson  settled  where  the  late  Amos  Johnson 
lived,  now  (1877)  Mr.  Fairchild's,  and  the  farm  was  retained  in 
the  family  over  one  hundred  years.  The  two  sons  were  respec- 
tively named  Amos  and  Solomon."  The  former  was  born  in  1733, 
and  the  latter  in  1735. 

Descendants  of  Amos. 
Amos  Johnson,  second,  was  a  captain  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 
He  married  Ehzabeth  Pierce,  a  daughter  of  Joshua  Pierce.  They 
had  twelve  children,  of  whom  nine  survived  childhood,  viz.,  Amos, 
Elizabeth,  Timothy,  Anna,  Lucy,  Samuel  Pierce,  Buckley,  Urena, 
and  Palmer. 


254  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Amos,  third,  married  Anna  Patterson,  daughter  of  Elnathan 
Patterson,  and  had  four  children,  viz.,  David,  Benjamin,  Sylvester, 
and  Elizabeth. 

Timothy  married  Sarah  Mallory,  daughter  of  Deacon  Ehakim 
Mallory,  They  had  children  as  follows,  to  wit,  Elizabeth,  Amanda, 
Earl,  Amos,  Lucy,  Sarah  Ann.  Elizabeth  m.  Luther  Emmons; 
Amanda  m.  Milo  Dickinson;  Earl  m.  Lucia  Ann  Wadhams ; 
Amos  m.  Sarah  Ives;  Sarah  Ann  m.  Joel  Hall. 

Samuel  Pierce  married  Miriam  Gilbert.  Their  children  were, — 
Mariett,  m.  Frederick  M.  Peck;  Martha  Louisa,  m.  Joseph  L. 
Cowdin;  Myra  Carohne,  m.  Lemuel  Peck;  Jesse  Gilbert;  Eber 
Ives;  Samuel  Joseph  Burnet,  m.  Desire  Hewitt;  Thomas  Stanford 
Hopkins,  m.  Sarah  Hopkins. 

Buckley  married  Elthene  Britton,  adopted  daughter  of  Jared 
Jones.  Their  children  were, — John  Lyman,  m.  Persis  Dean; 
Benjamin  P.,  m.  Mary  Miner;  Urena  Maria,  m.  Philander  Vaill; 
David  Frankhn;  Wakeman  Pierce,  m.  Harriet  Avery;  Timothy  C., 
m.  Betsey  S.  Barber;  Charlotte  Ann,  m.  Jay  Gaylord;  Harriet, 
m.  Allen  T.  Bunnell,  and  secondly,  Mortimer  D.  Holcomb;  Laura, 
m.  Luther  Ives;  Lucy  Maria. 

Urena  married'  Isaac  Sterling.  Their  children  were, — Isaac; 
Urena,  m.  Ephraim  Gibbs;  Heman  B.;  Amos;  Ansel. 

Palmer  married  Celia  Bonney,  daughter  of  Asa  Bonney.  They 
had  children, — Dorothy  Woods,  Sophronia,  Seymour,  and  Lewis 
Palmer.  Sophronia  m.  Rev.  N.  M.  Urmston;  Seymour  m.  Julia 
Ann  Sanford,  and  had  children, — J.  Sanford,  Solon  B.,  and 
ColHs  S. ;  Lewis  Palmer  m.  Rebecca  Barber,  and  had  children, — 
Wilbur  A.,  and  Walter  B.;  J.  Sanford  m.  Martha  S.  Foster; 
Walter  B.  m.  Mary  J.  Harrison. 

Descendants  of  Solomon. 
Solomon  married  Eleanor  Pierce,  daughter  of  Joshua  Pierce. 
Their  children  were, — Solomon,  Eleanor,  Abigail,  Stephen,  Seth, 
Lucy,  and  David.  The  two  last  named  died  in  childhood.  Of  Ihe 
remainder,  a  number  went  West,  and  Eleanor  married  Col.  Benja- 
min F.  Gold.  They  had  several  children,  whose  names  appear  in 
another  part  of  this  history. 

Story  of  the  Carter  Family. 
Nathaniel  Carter  came  from  Killingworth  and  bought  the  Jones 
homestead  of  Barzillai  Dudley,  in  Dudley  Town.     In  March,  1763, 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  255 

he  sold  his  place  and  removed  to  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  now 
Binghamton. 

The  following  narrative  of  their  sufferings  from  the  Indians 
was  from  the  lips  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Oviatt  of  Goshen,  one  of  his 
daughters,  an  eye-witness  of  the  scenes  described  at  the  age  of 
nine  years,  given  a  few  weeks  before  her  death — past  eighty  years — 
at  Goshen,  in  1832. 

Her  parents.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carter,  in  company  with  two  other 
families,  removed  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1763  from  Cornwall 
to  a  place  then  called  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  now  Binghamton, 
N.  Y.  They  advanced  about  twenty  miles  beyond  any  other  white 
settlement,  cleared  a  small  spot  near  the  bank  of  the  river,  and 
erected  a  building  of  logs,  in  which  the  three  families  resided.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Carter  had  four  children — Sarah,  the  eldest,  was  eleven, 
Ehzabeth,  the  second  daughter,  was  nine,  a  son  of  seven  years,  and 
an  infant.  There  were  also  several  children  belonging  to  the  other 
families.  Here  those  parents,  with  their  childi-en,  passed  a  few 
months  in  apparent  security.  They  were  engaged  in  various 
employments  to  improve  the  safety  and  comfort  of  their  new  resi- 
dence. 

The  heavy,  tall  trees  immediately  in  front  of  their  dwelKng  they 
had  in  part  cleared  away,  and  some  corn  and  other  articles  required 
for  their  families  were  cultivated.  While  some  were  laboring, 
others  carried  the  muskets  and  ammunition,  acting  as  sentinels, 
that  they  might  seasonably  be  apprised  of  any  approaching  danger. 
Every  day  seemed  more  promising  of  future  happiness  and  security, 
and  added  something  to  their  little  stock  of  comforts.  The  wild 
scenery  had  begun  to  grow  familiar  to  their  view,  and  an  agreeable 
interest  had  associated  itself  with  the  principal  objects  which  were 
embraced  by  the  little  horizon  formed  by  the  tall  and  unbroken 
forest,  which  stretched  away  to  an  almost  interminable  distance 
around  them. 

One  day  in  October,  when  the  inmates  of  this  little  settlement 
were  occupied  in  their  usual  pursuits,  two  of  the  men  having  gone 
a  short  distance  into  the  woods  to  labor,  and  the  other,  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  act  as  sentinel,  had  also  gone  a  f-ew  rods  out  of  sight 
from  the  house  to  examine  some  traps;  the  Indians,  who  had  been 
secretly  watching  their  prey,  uttered  their  savage  shout,  and  rushed 
upon  these  defenseless  women  and  children.  At  this  moment  Ehz- 
abeth was  a  few  yards  from  the  door  in  company  with  her  mother; 
in  an  instant  she  saw  her  mother  weltering  in  blood  upon  the  ground 


256  ^  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

beside  her,  a  savage  having  nearly  divided  her  head  with  a  toma- 
hawk. The  Indians,  twelve  in  number,  then  rushed  into  the 
house,  whei-e  were  the  elder  females,  one  of  whom  was  confined  to 
her  bed  with  illness ;  a  daughter  of  the  same  woman,  aged  sixteen, 
who  was  ill,  an  infant  child  of  Mrs.  Carter,  and  five  other  children. 
One  of  the  Indians  seized  the  infant  and  threw  it  with  such  vio- 
lence against  the  logs  of  the  house  that  it  was  instantly  killed. 
The  two  sick  females  were  also  put  to  death  with  the  tomahawk. 
The  man  who  had  gone  to  examine  the  traps,  hearing  the  shrieks 
of  the  sufferers,  hastened  to  their  defense,  but  had  only  time  to 
discharge  his  gun  once,  before  he  received  a  death-blow  froin  the 
hands  of  the  assailants. 

The  Indians,  having  selected  such  of  their  captives  as  they  sup- 
posed could  best  endure  the  hardships  of  savage  life,  taken  the 
scalps  from  those  they  had  killed,  and  also  having  collected  the 
clothing  and  utensils  which  they  thought  would  best  serve  their 
convenience,  set  fire  to  the  house,  and  then  hurried  off  to  their 
encampment,  a  short  distance  from  thence  on  the  river. 

The  captives  were  the  three  surviving  children  of  Mr.  Carter, 
Mrs.  Duncan,  and  two  children  belonging  to  the  other  family.  At 
the  encampment  they  found  about  two  hundred  Indians,  principally 
warriors.  Several  large  fires  were  burning,  around  which  the 
Indians  began  to  regale  themselves  with  roasted  corn  and  other 
refreshments  which  had  been  brought  from  the  white  settlement. 
After  having  indulged  themselves  in  exultations  at  their  recent 
success,  and  night  approached,  they  secured  their  captives  with 
cords,  and  stretched  themselves  on  the  ground  around  the  fires. 
Sarah,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  Carter,  appeared  perfectly  dis- 
tracted by  the  circumstances  of  her  situation.  She  continued 
crying  and  calling  for  her  father  to  come  and  rescue  her. 

The  Indians  appeared  several  times  almost  determined  to  silence 
her  screams  with  the  tomahawk.  At  length,  when  they  had  be- 
come buried  in  sleep,  Sarah  obtained  a  small  brand  and  burned 
the  cord  in  two  with  which  she  was  bound,  and  being  thus  at 
liberty,  made  her  way  back  to  the  smoking  ruins  of  her  recent 
home,  where  she  gave  way  to  the  most  violent  lamentations. 
Though  her  cries  were  distinctly  heard  in  the  encampment,  she 
was  not  pursued  until  morning,  when  she  was  retaken. 

The  next  day  the  Indians  commenced  their  journey  through  the 
woods,  carrying  on  horseback  their  captives.  After  pursuing 
their  route  three  days  in  a  weste]"ly  direction,  they  halted  and  sent 


EECORDS  OF  EARLY  AND  PRESENT  RESIDENTS.         257 

back  a  war  party  of  twenty  Indians.  After  five  or  six  dftys  the 
party  returned  with  several  scalps;  those  of  Mr.  Carter  and  his 
companion,  Mr.  Duncan,  were  of  the  number. 

These  unfortunate  men,  after  seeing  the  desolation  which  the 
Indians  had  made,  hastened  to  the  nearest  white  settlement  to  ob- 
tain some  assistance  from  thence,  and  they  returned  precisely  in 
time  to  fall  a  prey  to  the  aforementioned  party;  five  of  the  twelve 
only  being  able  to  escape.  The  Indians  then  recommenced  their 
march  through  the  woods  to  the  residence  of  their  nation.  As 
nearly  as  Elizabeth  could  recollect,  they  traveled  several  days 
diligently  in  a  northwesterly  direction,  and  at  length  arrived  in 
their  nation.  Here,  in  dark  and  filthy  huts,  hung  round  with  the 
scalps  of  their  parents  and  friends,  separated  from  each  other,  did 
these  captives  spend  the  long  and  tedious  months  of  winter,  in  a 
state  of  almost  perfect  starvation.  The  Indians  would  never  go 
abroad  to  obtain  new  supplies  of  food  so  long  as  one  morsel  re- 
mained; and  then  sometimes  return  with  little  success.  Being 
extremely  indolent  in  their  habits,  they  would  only  yield  to  the 
lal)or  of  hunting  from  the  most  imperious  necessity. 

When  spring  returned  they  deserted  their  winter  quarters  and 
journeyed  toward  the  Lakes,  and  after  s(>veial  weeks  they  arrived 
in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Niagara;  and  here,  to  the  great  joy  of  Eliza- 
beth, she  and  her  sister  Sarah  were  ransomed.  Being  conducted 
under  the  escort  of  English  troops,  they  at  length  reached  their 
friends  in  Cornwall  in  safety.  Most  of  the  other  captives  were 
ransomed  at  a  subsequent  period.  But  young  Carter,  the  brother 
of  Elizabeth,  never  returned.  Having  imbibed  the  habits  of  the 
Indians,  he  married  one  of  their  daughters,  by  whom  he  had  sev- 
eral children,  and  finally  died  in  the  Cherokee  nation,  at  the  age  of 
about  seventy. 

One  of  the  sons  of  this  Carter  by  the  Indian  marriage  attended 
for  a  time  the  Foreign  Mission  School  in  Cornwall,  during  which 
period  he  visited  the  Oviatt  family,  then  in  Goshen.  Although 
Sarah  lived  to  old  age,  her  mind  never  recovered  from  the  shock 
it  had  received.  She  became  incapable  of  providing  for  her  own 
wants.  She  was  never  married.  But  Elizabeth's  mind  received 
no  permanent  injury.  Possessing  naturally  a  high  degree  of  equa- 
nimity of  temper,  and  being  early  made  acquainted  with  the  con- 
soling and  purifying  truths  of  the  Gospel,  she  passed  the  remainder 
of  her  life  in  much  prosperity  and  happiness.  She  married  Mr. 
Benjamin  Oviatt,  of  Goshen,  Conn.,  from  which  union  proceeded 
33 


258  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

numeroi^s  and  highly  respectable  descendants.  After  reaching  the 
seventy-ninth  year  of  her  age,  she  closed  her  long  life — which  was 
in  childhood  so  darkly  overshadowed — peaceful,  resigned,  and 
happy,  leaving  behind  her  not  only  the  memory  of  her  early  suf- 
ferings, but  the  rich  legacy  of  her  exemplary  virtues  and  Christian 
character. 

The  Dibble  Family. 

John  and  Benjamin  Dibble  were  brothers,  and  among  the  first 
inhabitants  of  the  town.  They  came  from  Norwalk.  Benjamin, 
who  was  called  Doctor  Dibble,  though  he  had  no  medical  educa- 
tion—was a  sort  of  a  root  or  Indian  doctor.  He  lived  thirty  or 
forty  rods  down  the  hill  from  the  house  of  the  late  Seth  Dibble, 
his  grandson  ;  the  cellar  of  the  old  house  remains,  and  is  seen  a 
few  rods  north  of  the  road  in  the  meadow.  He  died  at  an  ad- 
vanced age.  He  had  two  sons  and  several  daughters.  The  sons 
were  Israel  and  George.  Israel  was  severely  wounded  during  the 
Revolutionary  war,  at  White  Plains,  from  which  wound  he  never 
recovered  fully,  rendering  him  decrepit  for  life.  He  had  nine 
children,  sons  and  daughters.  His  youngest  son,  Seth,  lived  at 
his  father's  house,  and  was  an  active  business  man.  His  father 
died  when  quite  aged.  The  son  Seth  Dibble  died  suddenly,  after 
a  brief  illness,  in  the  midst  of  an  active  life,  leaving  sons  and 
daughters. 

George,  the  other  son  of  Benjamin  Dibble,  lived  to  the  age  of 
eighty-four.     He  left  one  son,  Truman  Dibble,  and  a  daughter. 

John  Dibble  was  designated  by  the  title  of  Sergeant  Dibble;  such 
titles  were  common  less  than  one  hundred  years  since.  This  man 
was  active,  and  is  often  referred  to  in  the  early  records.  He  built 
a  house  some  sixty  rods  east  of  the  present  residence  of  William 
Harrison,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the  Dibble  meadow,  so  called; 
vestiges  of  the  old  cellar  still  remain.  Mr.  Dibble  had  three  sons, 
Clement,  John,  and  Silas,  and  two  daughters,  Lydia  and  Re- 
bekah.  (Jlement  was  an  inefficient  and  useless  man,  and  became 
poor.  Silas  was  intemperate.  Sergeant  Dibble  died  in  1782,  be- 
ing eighty  two  years  old. 

The  Sooville   Family. 

Among  the  early  settlers,  thougli  not  original  proprietors,  wei'e 
three  brothers, — Samuel,  Stephen,  and  Timothy  Scoville, — spelt  in 
the  early  records,  Scovel,  from  Saybrook. 

Samuel  settled  where  Henry  Rogers  now  lives,  building  a  house, 
probably  of  logs,  just  east  of  the  present  dwelling. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  259 

Stephen  settled  where  Sylvester  Scoville  now  lives. 

Timothy  settled  just  above  the  Mills  place,  north  of  l<>ank  Reed's. 
These  three  lived  and  died  where  they  settled,  and  are  buried  in 
South  Cornwall  cemetery. 

From  Stephen  descended  Levi,  who  was  deaf  and  dumb;  and 
Sylvester,  his  son,  who  still  occupies  the  old  homestead.  Levi  was 
a  good  farmer,  a  man  of  remarkable  intelhgence  for  a  deaf  and 
dumb,  before  they  had  any  of  the  modern  advantages  of  education. 
He  had  no  difficulty  in  communicating  with  his  neighbors  by  nat- 
ural signs  so  apt  that  all  could  u:nderstand.  He  was  a  regular 
attendant  at  church,  and,  it  was  said,  well  knew  what  the  minister 
had  to  say. 

Timothy's  children — Ira  and  Ithamar — moved  West. 

Samuel  had  a  large  family, — two  sons  by  his  first  wife,  Samuel 
and  Jacob,  familiarly  known  as  '>  Uncle  Jake."  Both  were  Revo 
lutionary  soldiers,  and  were  taken  prisoners  at  the  battle  of  Long 
Island,  and  confined  in  the  terrible  prison-ships,  and  eventually 
dismissed  on  parole.  When  they  came  home,  their  clothes  were  so 
infested  with  vermin  that,  they  had  to  bury  them. 

Samuel  settled  on  the  Cobble,  and  it  is  said  that  when  engaged 
in  piling  up  the  stone  walls  which  still  stand  there,  talking  to  his 
four  yoke  of  oxen,  he  could  be  heard  at  Cornwall  Center  and  down 
on  Cornwall  Plain. 

A  sketch  of  "Uncle  Jake"  is  given  among  the  Heroes  of  the 
Revolution.  Many  stories  of  him  are  still  extant.  One  time, 
while  watching  a  redoubt,  a  British  soldier,  being  in  the  habit  of 
coming  out  and  slapping  a  portion  of  his  person  in  contempt,  he 
was  appointed,  as  the  best  shot  in  the  company,  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
performance.  He  watched  his  opportunity,  and  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  the  soldier  keel  off  the  parapet  before  the  slapping 
process  was  half  accomplished. 

At  one  time  he  bet  a  gallon  of  rum  that  he  could  outjump  the 
company  (the Connecticut),  and  won  it  by  clearing  thirty- 
six  feet  at  two  hops  and  a  jump. 

By  his  second  wife  Samuel  S.,  Sen.,  had  sons,  Joseph,  Daniel, 
Jonah,  Ezra,  Stephen,  and  Jonathan. 

Joseph  first  settled  and  built  the  house  where  Frank  Reed  now 
lives ;  afterwards  moved  to  G-reene,  Chenango  County,  N.  Y. ;  was 
run  over  by  his  team  of  horses  and  killed.  His  son  Jesse  built  the 
house  lately  occupied  by  Deacon  Nettleton,  and  moved  with  his 
father  to  Greene,  and  built  the  first  permanent  bridge  across  the 
Chenango  river  at  that  place. 


260  HISTORY    OF    COBNWALL. 

Daniel  and  Ezra  moved  to  Vermont.  Jonah  went  to  New  Con- 
necticut, O.  Stephen  lived  in  Cornwall,  and  died  from  the  bite  of 
a  mad  cat.  Jonathan  remained  on  the  old  homestead  and  took 
care  of  the  old  folks. 

Daughters  of  Samuel  S.,  Sen.,  were  Lois,  married  Dilly  Howe, 
brother  to  Ichabod,  and  lived  on  Sharon  Mountain;  Eunice,  mar- 
ried Richard  Wickwire,  brother  of  Daniel  W.,  and  father  of  Mrs. 
James  Reed;  Ruth,  married  Mr.  Dibble,  and  moved  West;  Sallie, 
married  Mr.  Brown,  and  moved  West;  Samuel  was  a  bachelor,  and 
died  in  1877;  John,  married  Eleanor  Fletcher.  Is  now  a  success- 
ful practitioner  of  medicine  at  Ashley  Falls,  Mass. 

Jonathan  had  children,  Jacob  and  Samuel,  twins;  John,  Ethan, 
and  Daniel,  Sarah,  and  Mary  Ann. 

Jacob  married  Martha  Ingersoll  of  Bethlehem,  and  settled  near, 
and  occupied  a  part  of,  the  old  homestead,  now  owned  by  his  son, 
Ralph  I.  Scoville.  He  died  in  1876.  Jacob  and  his  son  Ralph 
have  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature.  Samuel,  second  son, 
graduated  at  Yale,  1857.  Is  a  Congregational  minister  at  Nor- 
wich, N.  Y,;  married  Hattie,  daughter  of  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  and  •  has  four  children.  Eliza,  only  daughter,  married 
William  Rogers  of  Cornwall;  moved  to  Kentucky,  where  he  died. 
Mrs.  R.  returned  to  Cornwall,  and  lives  on  the  old  property  of 
"  Uncle  Jacob."  Her  eldest  daughter.  Belle,  married  Eugene 
Wickwire,  and  lives  in  Cornwall. 

Ethan  died  in  New  Haven,  unmarried.  Daniel  married  Betsey 
Gray.  Only  one  son,  Eugene,  survives.  A  daughter,  Belle,  mar- 
ried David  0.  Cain  of  Sharon.  Sarah  married  Riley  M.  Rexford 
Another  Scoville, — Elias,  a  blacksmith, — came  from  Middlebury, 
having  resided  in  Goshen  for  a  time,  about  1838,  and  had  a  shop 
near  North  Cornwall  church,  where,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Studley 
of  Sharon,  they  made  wagons,  and  also  did  general  blacksmithing. 
His  shop  was  afterwards  removed  to  the  neighboi'hood  of  Gold's 
mill,  where  he  bought  the  house  of  Wm.  Smith,  formerly  the  old 
Baptist  church,  where  he  now  resides.  He  is  a  genial  man  and  a 
good  mechanic;  but  had  rather  tell  a  story  than  shoe  a  horse,  even 
when  the  joke  rests  on  himself.  As  the  owner  of  a  Bolles'  rock- 
puller,  with  improvements  of  his  own,  he  has  helped  to  make  the 
rough  places  of  Cornwall  smooth.  His  oldest  son,  Niles,  follows 
his  trade  at  the  same  place,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  Legis- 
lature in  1871. 


recobds  of  early  and  present  residents.  261 

The  Wickwire   Family. 

Oliver  Wickwire  came  from  New  London  county  before  the 
time  of  the  Revohition.  He  settled  on  the  old  road,  long  since 
discontinued,  running  northeast  from  near  Chester  Wickwire's. 
His  nearest  neighbor  on  the  south  was  James  Douglas. 

He  had  children,  Joshua,  who  went  to  Eaton,  Mad.  county,  N.  Y.\ 
Lois,  married  James  Robb,  and  lived  in  Salisbury,  near  Falls  Vil- 
lage; Richard,  who  lived  where  his  daughter,  Mrs.  James  Reed, 
now  lives,  and  went  to  North  Canaan  in  1842.  Daniel  married 
Mara  Scoville.  He  lived,  and  died  at  an  advanced  age,  where  his 
son  C'hester  now  lives,  on  Cream  Hill,  and  Lucretia  married  Calvin 
Butler,  and  had  a  numerous  family.  Another  daughter  married 
Paul  Price. 

Chester  Wickwire  is  a  farmer,  one  of  the  largest  landholders  in 
town;  was  member  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1872,  and  has  held 
ether  town  offices;  married  Mary  Harrison,  and  has  children; 
Daniel  removed  to  Illinois;  Jane  married  Mr.  Smith,  Homer, 
N.  Y. ;  Eugene  married  Belle  Rogers,  and  Luman,  Julia,  and  Ger- 
trude. 

The  Wheaton  Family. 

George  Wheaton,  Esq.,  came  from  East  Haven,  where  he  was 
born,  in  1790.  He  died  Nov.  24,  1865,  aged  75.  He  studied  law 
with  Judge  Church  of  Salisbury,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1813, 
and  settled  as  a  lawyer  in  Cornwall.  Mr.  Wheaton  was  a  well- 
read,  exact  lawyer,  a  prudent  business  man,  and  a  close  reasoner. 
He  was  a  valuable  man  in  town  affairs,  and  enjoyed  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  his  fellow -citizens.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  church,  and  was  well  known  as  a  consistent  Chris- 
tian. Married,  first  wife,  Lewey  Ailing,  Nov.  10,  1815,  and  had 
children,  George  A.,  married  Artemisia  Baldwin;  Lewey,  married 
William  Baldwin.  Cynthia  married  Elbert  Shepard.  Second  wife, 
Eliza  Cotter,  and  had  Lucretia,  married  Dr.  P.  C.  Cummings  of 
Canaan. 

The  Rogers  Family. 

The  pedigree  of  this  family  is  traced  back  by  records  in  the 
British  Museum  to  Thomas  Rogers  of  Bradford,  County  of  Wilts, 
sergeant-at-law,  who  died  in  1485.  He  was  great-grandfather  of 
John  Rogers,  the  martyr. 

John  Rogers,  the  martyr,  born  about  1500,  married  Adigan 
Pratt  of  Brabant,  and  had  eleven  children, — named,  Daniel,  John, 


262  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Ambrose,   Samuel,   Philip,   Bernard,  Augustine,   Barnaby,  Susan, 
Elizabeth,  and  Hester. 

The  son,  John  Rogers,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  WilHam  Leete 
of  Bverden,  County  of  Cambridge.  Thomas,  a  grandson  of  the 
martyr,  came  over  in  the  Mayflower,  and  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
Rogers  family  in  Cornwall,  who  have  now  reached  ten  generations 
from  him.     The  early  records  note  other  arrivals  of  this  name. 

It  is  probable,  from  the  records,  that  this  Thomas  was  the  father 
of  William,  who  was  the  father  of  Noah,  1st. 

Noah  Rogers,  1st,  married  EKzabeth,  daughter  of  Michael 
Tamtor,  and  had  seven  children,  as  mentioned  in  his  will:  Mary, 
born  April  14,  1675;  John,  born  Nov.  8,  1677;  Josiah,  born  Jan. 
31,  1680;  Hezekiah,  Noah,  Elizabeth,  Ann. 

Noah  Rogers,  2d,  married  Elizabeth  Wheeler,  1722,  and  had 
children,  Abigail,  born  Oct.  8,  1723;  Temperance,  born  Sept.  6, 
1725;  Elizabeth,  born  Nov.  9,  1727;  Rebecca,  born  June  20,  1730; 
Noah,  born  May  8,  1732;  Edward,  born  April  14,  1735;  Harriet, 
born  May  8,  1737. 

Noah  Rogers,  1st  and  2d,  were  large  landholders  in  Branford, 
and  held  many  positions  of  public  trust. 

Noah  Rogers,  3d,  with  his  brother  Edward,  moved  to  Cornwall 
from  Branford  in  1760.  Noah,  4th,  born  1766;  Noah,  5th,  1803; 
Noah,  6th,  1844;  Noah,  7th,  1871. 

Noah  Rogers,  3d,  though  relieved  from  mihtary  duty  by  defect 
in  one  of  his  eyes,  was  a  volunteer  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  of 
Burgoyne,  and  brought  home  a  British  musket  as  a  trophy. 

Noah  Rogers,  third,  b.  in  Branford,  1732,  m.  Rhoda,  dau.  of  Dea. 
Daniel  Leete,  of  Guilford,  a  descendant  of  Gov.  Leete  ;  his  chil- 
dren were  Sarah,  m.  Oliver  Burnham;  Irene,  m.  Prentiss  WiUiams 
of  Stockbridge,  Mass.;  Rhoda,  m.  Andrew  Cotter;  Noah,  Abigail, 
m.  Asahel  Bradley  of  Stockbridge,  Mass. ;  and  Amanda,  m.  Theo- 
dore Ives. 

Noah  Rogers,  fourth,  b.  1766;  m.  Lydia,  dau.  of  Rev.  John  Corn- 
wall; his  children  by  first  wife  were  Daniel  L,,  b.  1790,  m.  Harriett, 
dau.  of  Miner  Pratt;  Abigail,  b.  1793,  d.  1791;  Lydia,  b.  1795,  m. 
Chalker  Pratt;  Rhoda,  b.  1798,  m.  Julius  Hart;  John,  b.  1801,  m. 
Elizabeth,  dau.  of  Dea.  B.  Hamlin,  of  Sharon;  Noah,  b.  1803,  m. 
Catharine,  dau.  of  Wm.  Clark;  Abigail,  b.  1805,  m.  E.  M.  Pratt. 
Children  by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  of  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  dau.  of 
Hon.  John  Wilson  of  Perth,  Scotland;  Eliza,  b.  1812,  m.  Rev. 
Auo-ustus  T.  Norton;  Ambrose  S.,  b.  1815,  m.  first  wife,  Corneha 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  263 

Hamlin,  of  Sharon,  dan.  of  Dea.  B.  Hamlin;  Amanda,  b.  1817,  m. 
Rev.  A.  B.  Pratt.  His  third  wife  was  Mrs.  Abigail  Whedon  of 
Winchester. 

Daniel  Leete  Rogers  and  Harriet  had  nine  children, — Henry  L., 
m.  Nancy,  dau.  of  Wm.  Clark;  Daniel  M.,  m.  Philena  Knapp  of 
Greenwich;  Mary  E.,  m.  Theodore  R.  Ives;  Dwight,  m.  Lucy,  dau. 
of  Dea.  Edward  Leete  of  Guilford;  Hattie,  m.  Edward  W.,  son 
of  Dea.  E.  Leete  of  Guilford;  Miner,  Egbert  M.,  and  Abby  died 
unmarried. 

Henry  L.  and  Nancy  had  one  son,  William,  who  m.  Julia  Cor- 
bin,  and  they  have  two  children. 

Daniel  M.  and  Philena  live  in  New  Britain,  and  have  had  five 
children.  Their  second  son,  Daniel  0.,  m.  Emma.  dau.  of  David 
N.  Camp  of  New  Britain. 

Theodore  Ives  and  Mary  E.  have  had  four  children,  three  sons 
and  one  daughter;  Frederic  died  in  early  manhood,  a  youth  of 
much  promise. 

Dwight  and  Lucy  have  five  children, — Dwight,  Nellie,  Lucretia, 
Hattie  Fowler,  Miner  Pratt,  and  an  infant. 

Edward  W.  Leete  and  Hattie  reside  in  Guilford,  and  have  two 
sons  and  two  daughters. 

Ambrose  S.  Rogers  m.  second  wife,  Ellen  T.,  dau.  of  Hon.  N.  F. 
Thompson  of  New  Haven,  and  have  children,  Clarence  T.,  b.  1870; 
Juliet  W.,  b.  1874.  Mr.  Rogers  resides  in  New  Milford,  and  is 
elsewhere  referred  to  as  the  Principal  of  the  successful  school, 
"the  Adelphic  Institute." 

Caj)t.  Edward  Rogers  m.  Hannah  Jackson,  July  18,  1773,  and 
had  children,  Elizabeth  W.,  b.  June  23,  1777,  m.  Rev.  Henry 
Christie;  Hannah,  b.  May  29,  1776,  m.  Henry  Sedgwick;  Cinthia, 
b.  Dec.  8,  1782,  m,  Ehas  "White;  Lucretia,  b.  March  17,  1785,  m. 
John  Ward;  Edward,  b.  May  30,  1787.  m.  Sally  M.  Gold;  Anson, 
b.  April  2,  1792,  m.  Philomela  Hart,  dau.  of  Capt.  Elias  Hart,  Oct, 
14,  1814. 

Capt.  Edward  Rogers  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  old  French  War, 
having  received  two  commissions  from  George  III.,  and  an  officer 
in  the  army  of  the  Revolution;  more  particular  mention  of  him 
is  made  in  that  record. 

Descendants  of  Capt.  Edward  Rogers. 
Elizabeth  .  m.   Rev.  Henry  Christie,   removed  to   Philadelphia. 
Had   six    children, — Henry   practised   medicine  in    New    Jersey; 


264  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Asbury  and  John  died  young.  Edward  received  a  liberal  educa- 
tion, and  lived  in  Columbus,  Ohio.  Elizabeth  m.  Rev.  Milton 
Buttolph.     Margaret  m.  Mr.  Wright  of  New  York. 

Hannah  m.  Henry  Sedgwick,  son  of  Gen.  John  Sedgwick  of 
Cornwall  Hollow.  They  had  four  children, — Anna  m.  Mr.  Barnes 
and  removed  to  Ohio;  Fallah  m.  Mr.  Landon  and  settled  in 
Canaan;  L.ucretia  m.  Mr.  Yale  and  settled  in  Canaan;  John 
Edward,  the  youngest  son,  held  important  offices  in  this  town  and 
Litchfield,  and  now  resides  in  Sandisfield,  Mass. 

Cynthia  m.  Elias  White;  had  four  sons, — Comfort,  a  farmer  in 
Canton;  Edward  R.  and  Edwin,  farmers  in  Cornwall.  They  have 
both  been  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  are  honorable 
members  of  society;  a  son  of  Edwin  is  at  present  a  member  of 
Wesleyan  University.  Elias  is  highly  esteemed  as  ticket  agent  at 
Poughkeepsie,  on  the  H.  R.  R.  R. 

Lucretia  rn.  John  Ward.  He  built  the  house  on  Cream  Hill 
where  Chester  Wickwire  now  resides,  but  after  a  few  years  removed 
to  Sheffield,  Mass.  They  had  twelve  children,  —  Artemisia  m.  Hor- 
ace Hollister  of  Sahsbury;  Hannah  m.  a  Mr.  Cook,  and  Nancy  a 
Mr.  Lewis,  both  of  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.;  Clarissa  m.  David  Nor- 
throp of  Sherman,  Conn.,  removed  to  Middletown,  where  his  son 
Ward  Northrop  is  Judge  of  Probate;  Sarah  m.  Dr.  Turner  of 
Tyringham,  Mass.,  who  practiced  medicine  in  New  York  City; 
Elizabeth  m.  Dr.  Bid  well  of  Tyringham;  Cynthia  m.  Joseph  Green- 
wood, a  prominent  lawyer  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  a  talented  daugh- 
ter. Miss  Libbie  Greenwood,  is  devoted  to  social  reform;  John  Rog- 
ers, the  only  son  who  lived  to  maturity,  settled  near  Palls  Village, 
in  Salisbury,  as  a  farmer,  and  is  well  known  as  a  prominent  man 
in  the  town,  and  in  the  Methodist  Church,  of  which  he  is  a 
member. 

Hon.  Edward  Royers,  oldest  son  of  Capt.  Edward,  was  a  gradu- 
ate of  Williams  College,  studied  law  at  the  celebrated  Law  School 
of  Gould  &  Reeves  of  Litchfield;  m.  Sally  Maria  Gold,  daughter 
of  Hezekiah  Gold;*  settled  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Madison,  Mad.  Co.,  N.  Y.  He  was  a  member  of  the  New  York 
State  Convention  for  framing  the  Constitution  for  that  State. 
Was  presiding  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  Madison 
County,  for  many  years.  Judge  Rogers  represented  the  district  in 
which  he  lived  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  On  his 
monument,  in  the  cemetery  of  Madison,  is  this  inscription : 

*For  children,  see  Gold  family. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  265 

HON.  EDWARD  ROGERS, 

Born  May  .SOth,  1787— Died  May  29th,  1857, 

A  Scholar,  a  sound  Lawyer, 

An  Impartial  Judge, 

An  incorruptible  representative  of  the  people.* 

A7ison  m.  Philomela,  daughter  of  Capt.  Elias  Hart  of  Cornwall, 
and  had  four  children, — Cynthia  A.  m.  D.  L.  Cartwright  of  Sharon; 
Lucretia  H.  m.  Austin  Brush,  and  now  resides  in  the  old  home- 
stead; Edward  H.,  North  Cornwall,  unmarried;  Maria  E.  M.  m. 
Niles  Scoville  of  North  Cornwall. 

Col.  Anson  Rogers  was  widely  known  as  largely  occupied  with 
public  affairs,  having  held  almost  every  important  office  in  the  gift 
of  his  townsmen.  He  was  drafted  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  served 
the  town  as  constable  and  collector  for  fourteen  years  in  succes- 
sion. It  was  said  of  him  that  "he  never  served  a  writ  without 
making  a  friend."  He  was  a  zealous  worker  to  secure  the  location 
of  the  church  at  North  Cornwall. 

Noah  and  Edward  Rogers  appear  on  the  town  records  as  pur- 
chasers of  land  in  December,  1761.  The  principal  pieces  were 
bought  of  William  Gould;  those  near  the  church  in  North  Cornwall 
now  owned  by  Noah  Rogers,  and  the  estate  of  Anson  Rogers,  and 
a  farm  of  six  hundred  acres  lying  in  and  on  both  sides  of  the 
Great  Hollow,  price  £1,200.  The  family  has  always  been  one  of 
the  most  substantial  in  town,  always  reliable  in  every  good  word 
and  work. 

Several  members  have  received  a  liberal  education,  and  are 
noted  elsewhere,  as  Rev.  J.  A.  R.  Rogers  and  Ambrose  Rogers, 
and  in  the  other  branch  Hon.  Edward  and  Hezekiah  Gold  Rogers. 

A  family  gathering  was  held  September  28,  IS 64,  on  the  farm 
of  Noah  Rogers  6th.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  members  of 
the  family  were  present.  After  dinner,  in  which  all  heartily 
engaged,  an  historical  address  was  given  by  Ambrose  S.  Rogers  of 
New  Milford,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  many  of  these  facts. 

*  Extract  from  a  letter  of  Edward  Kogers  to  his  brother  Anson,  dated  Madi- 
son, June  17,  1816.  This  advice  commends  itself  to  our  regard,  and  .shows  the 
cast  of  the  man  : 

"  Punctuality  in  payment  is  all  important,  more  especially  to  a  young  man. 
It  is  a  maxim  I  have  endeavored  rigidly  to  adhere  to.  It  is  the  life  of  credit, 
and  a  safe  and  secure  course  to  pursue.  '  I  owe  no  man  anything,'  is  a  kind  of 
guard  against  insult,  and  the  crowing  of  a  vain  and  miserly  disposition  which 
too  often  abounds  in  the  world.  It  besides  keeps  a  man  above  the  cringing 
dependence  so  annoying  to  a  man  of  delicate  feelings." 

34 


266  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Then  followed  short  speeches,  anecdotes,  etc.  One  incident  related 
by  0.  Rogers  Burnham  is  worthy  of  preservation : 

"  The  Rev.  Nathaniel  Hawes,  minister  of  the  parish,  became 
embarrassed  and  was  intending  to  sell  his  little  house,  when  it  was 
proposed  to  raise  the  $750  he  needed  by  subscription  in  shares  of 
fifteen  dollars  each.  The  citizens  generally  subscribed  one  share 
each,  but  two  young  girls  in  the  bloom  and  beauty  of  maidenhood, 
daughters  of  Noah  Rogers,  had  put  down  their  names  for  two 
shares  each;  and  how,"  he  asked,  "did  they  obtain  the  money?  by 
keeping  school  at  one  dollar  a  week  !  and  thirty  dollars  then  was 
more  than  ten  times  thirty  now." 

Anson  Rogers  said  that  his  father  Edward  Rogers  was  a  captain 
in  the  Revolution,  and  as  the  government  scrip  was  valueless,  he 
advanced  $2,000  in  gold  to  pay  his  men,  which  sum  the  govern- 
ment had  never  restored.  Revolutionary  relics  of  Capt.  Rogers  were 
presented,  specimens  of  the  handiwork  of  the  mothers;  but  more 
interesting  was  a  Bible  printed  in  1575,  brought  over  in  the  May- 
flower. It  had  appended  a  "  Book  of  Psalmes  collected  into 
English  meter  by  Thomas  Sternhold  and  John  Hopkins." 

Daniel  Leete  Rogers  was  an  older  brother  of  Noah  5th,  and 
Ambrose  S.  was  a  younger  brother.  As  stated  elsewhere,  this 
family  have  always  been  ready  to  bear  a  full  share  in  all  public 
burdens,  and  when  Mr.  Maynard  left  they  bought  his  property 
for  a  parsonage,  but  it  was  not  wanted  for  that  purpose,  and 
remained  on  their  hands. 

Henry  Rogers,  with  his  son  William,  and  Dwight  Rogers,  sons 
of  Daniel  L.,  are  farmers  in  North  Cornwall.  Noah  the  6th  stijl 
holds  a  portion*  of  his  paternal  acres  though  residing  in  Bridge- 
port. The  descendants  of  Capt.  Edward  also  hold  their  lands  by 
direct  descent  from  him.  These  are  important  facts,  in  these  days 
of  change,  for  no  single  cause  has  done  more  for  North  Cornwall 
than  this  attachment  to  their  paternal  acres,  for  very  many  names 
cultivate  the  lands  cleared  from  the  forest  by  their  ancestors. 

The  genealogist  will  notice  with  curiosity  the  occurrence  of  the 
names  of  Pratt  and  Leete  as  intermarrying  with  the  Rogers'  in  Old 
England, — a  custom  so  oft  repeated  in  modern  times,  that  the  name 
of  one  family  is  suggestive  of  the  others, — the  last  act  being  the 
marriage  of  Edward  W.  Leete  of  Guilford,  with  Hattie  Rogers  of 
Cornwall,  for  which  reprisal  was  made  by  his  brother  Dwight  in 
marrying  Lucy,  sister  of  Edward.  Neither  Guilford  nor  Corn- 
wall can  complain  of  the  trade:  their  children  rise  up  and  call 
them  blessed. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  267 

By  intermarriage  in  North  Cornwall  the  Rogers  blood  is  mingled 
in  most  of  the  leading  families  that  now  reside  there — as  the 
Harrisons,  Pratts,  Harts,  etc. — and  frequent  mention  of  them 
occurs  in  all  parts  of  this  History. 

The  Pratt  Family. 

In  1636,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  with  a  company  of  about  one 
hundred  men  and  women,  the  most  of  whom  were  membei's  of  his 
church,  left  what  is  now  Cambridge,  Mass.,  for  the  purpose  of 
finding  a  new  home  somewhere  along  the  valley  of  the  Connecti- 
cut river.  The  most  of  the  company  traveled,  on  foot,  driving 
their  cattle  before  them.  After  a  few  days  they  came  to  where 
the  city  of  Hartford  now  stands.  The  fertihty  of  the  soil,  the 
bountiful  supply  of  game  in  the  forests,  and  of  fish  in  the  river,  all 
joined,  to  recommend  this  as  a  desirable  location,  and  there  they 
pitched  their  tents  and  took  up  their  abode. 

Among  those  composing  this  company  was  Lieut.  William  Pratt, 
who  came  from  Stevenage,  in  the  County  of  Hertfordshire,  Eng- 
land, about  1632.  From  that  place  his  lineage  is  traced  back 
direct  to  Thomas  Pratt  of  Baldock,  in  Hertfordshire,  who  died  in 
February,  1539.  From  this  point  the  genealogical  line  backwards 
is  not  entirely  perfect  at  one  or  two  points,  still  it  seems  to  run 
with  a  good  degree  of  certainty  back  to  Sir  William  Pratt,  who 
in  1191  was  a  favorite  officer  under  and  accompanied  Richard 
Coeur-de-Lion  to  the  Holy  Land  in  the  Crusade  wars. 

In  the  division  of  lands  in  Hartford,  the  aforesaid  William 
Pratt  of  Hooker's  company  drew  lots  on  what  is  now  North  Main 
street  in  that  city. 

In  1637  he  was  one  of  a  band  who  went  from  Hartford  on  an 
expedition  against  the  Pequot  Indians,  the  result  of  which  was  the 
annihilation  of  their  power  as  a  tribe.  For  his  services  on  that 
occasion  the  General  Court  voted  him  one  hundred  acres  of  land. 
In  1645  he  sold  his  possessions  in  Hartford,  and  removed  to  Say- 
brook  in  this  State,  where  he  became  a  large  landholder.  He  rep- 
resented that  town  in  the  General  Assembly  thirteen  years,  from 
1665  to  1678.     He  had  eight  children. 

Following  down  in  the  line  of  the  said  William  Pratt's  descend- 
ants to  the  fifth  generation,  we  find  one  David  Pratt,  born  about 
1725.  He  married  Jerusha  Chalker  in  1748,  and  had  by  her 
six  sons  and  three  daughters.  This  family  moved  to  Cornwall 
about  1780.     Among  the  sons  was  Jasper,  the  third  child,  born  in 


268  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

1756,  and  Miner,  the  youngest,  born  in  1768.  These  two  sons 
were  the  only  ones  of  the  family  who  became  permanent  residents 
in  this  town. 

Before  the  removal  from  Saybrook,  Jasper  Pratt  had  enlisted 
from  that  town  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
into  the  Third  Connecticut  Regiment,  and  served  in  the  army 
seven  years  and  three  months,  or  until  the  close  of  the  war.  For 
most  of  the  time  he  was  stationed  in  New  Jersey,  guarding  the 
coast  from  foraging  parties  from  New  York,  who  were  called 
"  Cow  Boys."  In  one  of  these  raids  he  was  taken  prisoner  and 
confined  three  months  in  the  city,  when  an  exchange  of  prisoners 
released  him. 

One  winter  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson 
river.  The  weather  was  cold,  he  with  others  was  scantily  clothed, 
their  shoes  were  miserably  poor,  and  blood  from  their  feet  was 
often  left  in  their  tracks.  They  suffered  severely  in  that  trip, 
but  they  endured  patiently  to  the  end  that  their  country  might  be 
free. 

In  those  days  there  lived  on  the  premises  now  owned  by  Har- 
vey Baldwin,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Samuel  Butler.  He  came 
from  "Windsor,  in  this  State,  about  1775,  with  a  family  of  several 
daughters  and  one  son.  Mr.  Butler  was  in  infirm  health,  and  did 
not  live  long  after  coming  to  Cornwall.  It  was  not  long  after 
Mr.  Butler  died,  before  his  wife  was  taken  with  the  small-pox. 
She  died,  and  her  remains  rest  under  one  of  the  old  tombstones 
now  standing  in  the  meadow  a  short  distance  west  of  the  North 
Congregational  meeting-house.  Three  or  four  other  persons,  who 
died  of  the  same  disease  about  the  same  time,  were  also  buried 
there. 

Of  the  daughters,  one  was  married  to  Ozias  Hurlburt,  one  to 
Simeon  Emmons,  one  to  Samuel  Demming;  and  it  so  came  aboiit 
that  the  care  of  the  farm  devolved  upon  Abigail  and  Thankful,  the 
two  youngest  of  the  daughters,  and  they  were  efficient  in  working 
it.  They  sheared  their  own  sheep,  spun  the  wool,  and  wove  it 
into  cloth.  They  also  themselves  sowed  the  flax  and  put  it  through 
all  the  necessary  processes  to  get  it  into  cloth.  They  disposed  of 
considerable  of  their  cloth  for  the  benefit  of  the  soldiers  in  the 
army,  and  took  their  pay  in  Continental  money.  They  afterwards 
gave  one  hundred  dollars  of  it  for  a  sieve.  Some  of  the  linen  cloth 
made  by  Abigail  in  those  days,  was,  more  than  thirty  years  after- 
wards, worn  by  one  of  her  grandchildren,  and  was  in  good  condi- 


BECORDS    OF    EABLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  269 

tion.  Thankful  Butler  married  a  Mr.  Fellows,  by  whom  she  had 
one  son,  Ephraim,  who  now  lives  in  Wolcottville,  Conn.  Calvin 
Butler,  who  had  a  large  family,  and  who  owned  a  large  farm  in 
the  northwest  corner  of  this  town,  and  who  died  about  1860,  was 
a  grandson  of  the  aforesaid  Samuel  Butler.  Soon  after  the  war 
closed,  Jasper  Butler  came  to  his  Cornwall  home,  which  was  then 
on  the  south  side  of  the  road,  opposite  to  where  the  foundation  of 
Elias  Scovill's  former  blacksmith  shop  now  stands,  and  near  the 
Butler  place.  The  Butler  giris  had  a  hog  to  kill.  They  did  not 
understand  dressing  pork  as  well  as  they  did  flax,  and  they  em- 
ployed Jasper  Pratt,  then  just  home  from  the  war,  to  help  do  it. 
On  that  occasion  an  intimacy  between  him  and  Abigail  Butler  had 
its  starting  point,  which  resulted  in  their  marriage  in  1785.  "  Tall 
oaks  from  little  acorns  grow."  The  Butler  property  was  sold,  and 
they  purchased  from  Noah  Rogers  a  farm  on  Cream  Hill,  to  which 
they  removed.  He  died  February  24,  1833,  aged  seventy-seven 
years. 

Mrs.  Abigail  Pratt  was  an  active,  energetic  woman,  with  a  well- 
ordered,  intelligent  mind,  a  retentive  memory,  and  a  will  that 
often  conquered  difficulties  which  to  others  seemed  insurmountable. 
She  was  a  diHgent  Bible  reader,  and  one  of  her  grandchildren 
says,  that  in  his  childhood,  when  he  had  done  something  worthy 
of  approval,  she  often  commended  him  by  some  quotation  from 
Solomon's  proverbs;  and  when  he  was  naughty,  she  would  reprove 
by  something  drawn  from  the  same  source.  She  died  March  1  ] , 
1845,  aged  ninety-five  years,  and  her  faculties  were  well  retained 
to  the  last. 

The  children  of  Jasper  and  Abigail  Pratt  were:  Hannah,  born 
in  1789;  Chalker,  born  in  1792;  Abigail,  born  in  1795,  married 
George  Brewster,  July  28,  1814. 

Chalker  married  Lydia,  daughter  of  Deacon  Noah  Rogers,  and 
had  two  children,  Russell  R.,  born  October  15,  1816;  Helen  A., 
born  August  24,  1818,  married  Stephen  Foster,  of  Morristown, 
N.  J.,  who  died  March  10,  1863— she  died  in  1875. 

Chalker  Pratt  was  a  man  of  influence  in  the  community,  ever 
ready  to  lend  his  aid  to  every  good  work,  and  an  active  member 
in  the  church  of  Christ.  He  was  the  agent  for  the  Cornwall  Iron 
Company  for  a  number  of  years,  until  about  1840,  when,  as  the 
Housatonic  railroad  drew  near  completion,  he  sold  his  farm  on 
Cream  Hill  and  removed  to  West  Cornwall,  where  he  had  pur- 
chased land  and  erected  buildings  thereon,  with  reference  to  going 


270  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

into  the  mercantile  business.  He  died  August  26,  1851,  aged 
fifty-nine. 

Eussell  R.  Pratt  married  Mary  E.,  daughter  of  John  Cotter. 
She  died  May  1,  1849,  leaving  one  child,  Harriet  C,  who  married 
Col.  C.  D.  Blinn,  of  West  Cornwall,  a  merchant  now  residing  in 
New  Milford.  Incidents  in  regard  to  Col.  Blinn  will  be  found  in 
another  part  of  this  work.  The  second  wife  of  Russell  R.  Pratt 
was  Mary  W.  Bonney,  of  Danbury,  Conn.,  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
"William  Bonney,  of  New  Canaan,  Conn.  He  was  a  native  of  this 
town,  and  during  his  early  years  lived  on  the  premises  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  Edwin  White,  on  Clark  Hill.  Russell  R.  Pratt  and 
Stephen  Foster,  under  the  firm  name  of  "  Pratt  &  Foster,"  estab- 
lished a  successful  mercantile  business  at  West  Cornwall  in  1841. 
Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Foster  in  1863,  the  business  was  continued 
by  his  heirs,  and  now  Mr.  R.  R.  Pratt  and  R.  P.  Foster  constitute 
the  firm.  Mr.  Foster  was  a  man  of  pleasing  manners,  great  indus- 
try, indefatigable  energy,  and  shrewd  in  his  business  plans.  As  a 
railroad  contractor  he  was  the  first  one  in  the  construction  of  the 
Housatonic  railroad  to  break  ground  north  of  New  Milford,  which 
was  done  at  the  Deep  Rock  cut  near  West  Cornwall.  The  material 
interests  of  the  church  had  his  especial  regard.  His  death,  in  the 
full  vigor  of  life,  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  church  and  community. 
Mr.  R.  R.  Pratt,  as  an  energetic  business  man,  as  selectman  for 
seven  years  from  1856,  as  representative  in  1858,  as  deacon  of  the 
church  from  1854  to  1871,  as  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath-school 
at  West  Cornwall  since  1860,  has  filled  and  still  holds  a  prominent 
position  in  the  secular  and  religious  interests  of  the  town. 

Stephen  Foster  and  Helen  A.  Pratt  had  children, — Russel  P.; 
Charles  C,  d.  1875 ;  Lillie  M.,  m.  L.  A.  Bates,  of  Sharon, 
June  21,  1876. 

Russel  P.  Foster  m.  Mary  E.  Beard sley,  of  Waterville,  N.  Y., 
and  has  children, — Frederic  B.,  b.  April  18,  1870;  Brace,  b. 
Aug.  25,  1873. 

Miner  Pratt,  son  of  David  and  Jerusha,  as  before  mentioned,  m. 
Mary  Ann,  d.  of  Dea.  Eliakim  Mallory,  December,  1795,  and  had 
children, — Harriet,  b.  Oct.  3,  1796,  m.  Daniel  L.  Rogers,  son  of 
Dea.  Noah;  Eliakim  Mallory,  b.  Oct.  12,  1802,  m.  Abigail  Rogers, 
d.  of  Dea.  Noah,  d.  1852;  Ezra  Dwight,  b.  Nov.  26,  1810,  m. 
Anna  Aurelia,  d.  of  Dea.  Ebenezer  Rood,  of  Torringford;  Almon 
Bradley,  b.  June  3,  1812,  m.  Amanda  Rogers,  d.  of  Dea.  Noah. 
We  remember  Mr.  Pratt  as  a  man  of  untiring  industry,  sterling 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  271 

integrity,  and  interested  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  public 
good. 

Eliakim  Mallory  Pratt  and  Abigail  Rogers  had  five  children, — 
Hubert,  b.  March  25,  1832;  Noah  Miner,  b.  March  24,  1836; 
Mary  M.,  b.  Sept.  15,  1834,  d.  Sept.  17,  1834;  Frances  Delphine, 
b.  Jan.  6,  1838;  Harriette  A.,  b.  Oct.  15,  1842,  d.  Aug.  10,  1843. 

Mr.  Pratt  first  settled  at  Mt.  Morris,  N.  Y.,  removed  to  Avon, 
N.  Y.,  and  thence  to  Flint,  Mich.,  where  he  died  in  1852.  Asa 
pillar  in  the  church,  he  was  a  beautiful  pattern;  as  a  citizen,  he 
was  the  noblest  work  of  God — an  honest  man.  Uniting  with  his 
religion  sound  judgment,  business  tact,  and  a  pure  taste,  he  became 
at  once  an  individual  in  whose  principles  and  character  a  general 
and  unlimited  confidence  centered.  Hubert  R.,  his  oldest  son,  m. 
Laura  Mills,  of  Flint,  Mich.,  and  with  his  mother  and  sister, 
resides  at  Lansing,  where  he  occupies  a  position  of  trust  as  first 
clerk  in  the  office  of  the  auditor-general  of  the  State. 

Noah  Miner,  second  son,  was  born  in  Cornwall,  resided  in 
Detroit,  Mich.,  where  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Eighth  Regi- 
ment, and,  as  a  lieutenant,  was  killed  in  battle  at  Wilmington 
Island,  April  16,  1862.  No  words  can  describe  the  loss  the 
country  suffers  in  the  death  of  such  defenders.  His  colonel 
(Fenton)  says:  "No  terms  of  endearment  can  be  lavished  on  the 
memory  of  this  heroic  soldier,  who  gallantly  stood  on  the  battle- 
field facing  danger  and  death,  putting  his  trust  in  God." 

Ezra  Dwight  Pratt  and  Mary  Ann  had  children, — Mary  Aurelia, 
died  in  infancy;  Dwight  Mallory,  Harriette  J.,  Hubert  Miner. 
Mr.  Pratt  is  a  farmer  on  Cream  Hill,  and  is  still  with  us.  We 
can  only  say  that,  as  a  deacon  in  the  church,  he  has  long  honored 
the  office,  and  as  a  citizen  and  a  neighbor,  honors  his  Christian 
profession.  His  son,  Dwight  M.,  graduated  at  Amherst,  1876,  and 
is  now  in  the  theological  seminary  at  Hartford, 

Almon  Bradley  Pratt  and  Amanda  had  children, — Harriette  A., 
m.  Rev.  Charles  C.  Starbuck;  Amanda  Isabel,  m.  Arthur  Fairchild, 
son  of  President  Fairchild,  of  Berea  College;  Noah  Rogers,  m.  in 
Berea,  and  lives  in  Hastings,  Neb.  Rev.  Almon  B.  Pratt  was 
licensed  and  ordained  by  North  Consociation  of  Litchfield  County, 
and  went  to  Michigan  under  commission  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society;  ministered  to  a  Congregational  church  in 
Genesee,  Genesee  County ;  thence  removed  to  Berea,  Ky.,  as 
treasurer  and  steward  of  the  college;  thence  to  Nebraska,  where 
he  had  charge  of  a  church  at  Camp  Creek  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
in  1875. 


272  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Personal  acquaintance  enables  us  to  speak  freely  of  the  purity, 

the  honesty,  the  noble  Christian  character  of  our  former  classmate 

and  friend. 

The   Brewster   Family. 

Widow  Brewster  came  to  Cornwall  from  Stratford  in  1797,  with 
two  children, — George,  eight  years  old,  and  his  younger  brother 
Nelson.  Her  husband  had  been  lost  at  sea  with  his  vessel,  of 
which  he  was  owner  and  captain,  three  years  before. 

George  Hved  with  Agur  Judson  till  he  went  to  learn  his  trade 
of  carpenter  and  cabinet-maker,  of  Captain  Williams.  He  Hved 
where  James  0.  Ford  now  lives  at  Cornwall  Center,  and  followed 
his  trade.  He  married  Abigail  Pratt,  who  still  survives,  and  had 
children, — George  S.,  m.  Adehne  Stone;  Sarah,  m.  Josiah  John- 
son, lives  in  California;  Jasper,  m.  Susan  Allen;  Abigail  B.,  m. 
James  Armstrong,  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y. ;  Maria,  m.  James  Cotter, 
Ansonia;  Lucius,  m.  Juha  King  wood,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.;  Georgiana, 
lives  in  California. 

Jasper  alone,  of  the  children,  remained  in  Cornwall.  Bought 
the  farm  of  his  uncle,  Chalker  Pratt,  on  Cream  Hill,  where  he 
died  Nov.  9,  1874.  His  sons,  William  and  George,  occupy  the 
farm  with  their  mother.  Edward  is  a  member  of  the  Sheffield 
Scientific  School  at  New  Haven.  Lydia,  the  only  daughter, 
married  RoUin  M.  Hubbard,  and  lives  in  Toledo,  0.  Jasper  was 
a  good  farmer,  a  man  of  much  energy,  and  quite  prominent  in 
town  affairs. 

Nelson  Brewster  studied  law;  resided  in  Goshen,  where  he 
married  Lucretia  Root,  and  had  children, — William  and  Ephraim. 
William  was  a  colonel  in  the  War  of  the  RebelUon,  and  was  highly 
commended  for  his  gallant  conduct. 

The  Jones  Family. 

Caleb  Jones  died  in  Cornwall  Dec.  9,  1786,  aged  seventy-four 
years. 

Zachariah  Howe  Jones,  son  of  Caleb  Jones,  died  July  31,  1817, 
aged  seventy-two  years. 

Caleb  Jones,  son  of  Zachariah  Howe  Jones,  died  Aug.  3,  1854, 
aged  seventy -two  years.  Jane  Ann,  only  child  of  the  above  Caleb, 
was  born  May  17,  1814,  and  was  married  to  John  T.  Andrew, 
Sept.  9,  1839,  and  resides  in  the  village  of  Cornwall. 

Zachariah  Howe  Jones  removed  from  Wallingford,  Conn.,  to 
Cream  Hill  in  Cornwall,  and  owned  the  farm  since  occupied  by  the 


RECORDS  OF  EARLY  AND  PRESENT  RESIDENTS.         273 

late  Deacon  James  Wadsworth.  He  afterwards  reraoved  to  the 
south  part  of  the  town,  called  Dudleytown.  He  was  one  of  a  large 
family  of  brothers  and  sisters.  He  left  two  children, — Abby,  m. 
David  Patterson;  and  Caleb. 

On  the  28th  of  February,  1811,  Caleb  was  married  to  Harriet 
Swift,  daughter  of  Rufus  Swift,  and  granddaughter  of  General 
Heman  Swift,  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  the  friend  and  at  one 
time  the  host  of  Washington.* 

He  lived  generally  respected  by  his  fellow-citizens,  and  although 
of  a  retiring  disposition,  was  twice  elected  member  of  the  State 
legislature.  He  devoted  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  the  cause  of 
education,  having  himself  taught  parts  of  thirty-one  years  in  the 
common  schools  of  this  town. 

The  Beirce  Family. 
James  Beirce,  father  of  Joseph  and  James,  came  from  eastern 
Massachusetts,  probably  Pembroke,  about  1739,  and  settled  on  the 
old  road  east  of  the  Burnham  place.  He  afterwards  removed  to 
Cornwall  Bridge.  From  him  the  late  Peter  Beirce,  a  prominent 
business  man  and  politician,  and  James  Beirce,  of  Cornwall  Bridge, 
are  descended. 

The  Clark  Family. 

Ephraim  Clark  came  from  England  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century;  his  wife  came  from  France  in  1740,  and  they  settled  in 
Stratford.  He  came  to  Cornwall  and  bought  most  of  the  hill 
called  after  him,  "  Clark  Hill."  He  was  taken  sick  with  the 
measles,  returned  to  Stratford,  and  died  there.  His  four  sons, 
David,  Hezekiah,  Silas,  and  Uri,  settled  on  his  lands.  David  had 
a  son,  William,  who  lived  on  the  place  now  occupied  by  his  son, 
William  L.  Clark.  William  was  a  man  highly  respected  by  his 
townsmen;  had  a  family  of  six  sons  and  six  daughters,  who  grew 
to  maturity.  They  are  now  widely  scattered,  one,  William  Leavitt, 
remaining  on  the  old  homestead ;  has  one  son  and  three  daughters. 

Deacon  Victorianus  Clark  was  the  son  of  Captain  Nehemiah 
•Clark,  and  brother  of  Pierce  Clark.  They  had  no  relationship 
with  the  other  family  of  Clarks. 

Mr.  Clark  was  afflicted  with  an  inflammation  of  his  eyes,  gave 
up  farming,  and  made  weekly  trips  to  Hartford  with  the  mail  and 
passengers,  to  which  he  added  the  errand  business,  now  dignified 
by  the  name  of  "express."     He  had  a  covered  wagon  and  two 

*  Tradition  reports  that  "Washington  once  passed   through  Cornwall  and 
stopped  with  Gen.  Swift. 
35 


274  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

horses.  He  left  Coi'nwall  early  Monday  morning,  arriving  in 
Hartford  the  same  day.  Eeturning,  left  Hartford  a])out  noon, 
and  arrived  in  Cornwall  Wednesday  noon.  He  was  entrusted 
with  errands  of  all  sorts,  of  which  he  took  no  memorandum, 
trusting  alone  to  his  memory,  which  never  failed  him.  He  was  a 
man  of  much  intelligence,  and  lie  managed  to  entertain  his  passen- 
gers so  that  the  distance  seemed  short  and  the  hills  less  tedious. 
About  1 840  he  removed  to  Woh^ottvile  and  from  there  made  semi- 
weekly  trips  to  Hartford,  and  lived  there  till  his  death. 

Cornwall  can  boast  of  few  authors,  and  her  history  would  not 
be  complete  without  mention  of  one  who  in  1814  published  a 
geography  in  rhyme.  It  was  a  volume  of  some  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pages,  and  was  confined  to  the  United  States,  called  by  the 
poet,  "  Fredonia." 

Under  the  head  of  CUiaracter  and  Manners,  Mr.  Clark  says  of 
New  England: 

By  talents  and  by  worth  alone 

Are  candidates  for  ofRce  known ; 

And  lie  who  asks  to  be  elected, 

Is  very  sure  to  be  rejected. 

The  men  are  tall,  stout-built,  and  hardy  ; 
.    Their  manners,  like  their  persons,  manly, 

Unafiected,  plain,  and  simple, 

(Jenerous,  brave,  and  hospitable. 

Oft  on  tlie  female  cheek  the  rose, 

Softened  by  the  lily,  glows; 

While  just-proportioned  forms  impart 

New  graces  to  the  sculptor's  art. 

The  fair,  the'  ranking  high  by  birtJi, 

By  fortune,  talents,  and  by  worth, 

Like  her,*  the  boast  of  Italy, 

Despisin;.'  ease,  use  dexterously 

The  pencil,  the  embroidei-ing  steel, 

Or  ply  the  useful  spinning-wheel. 

His  patriotism  is  aroused  by  the  "Militia  of  Tennessee": 

Let  no  rasli  foe  presumptuously 

Rouse  up  the  sons  of  Tennessee ! 

For  brave  are  they,  inured  to  wars, 

All  ornamented  with  the  scars 

Received  in  rescuing  their  land 

P^'roin  murderous  and  savage  liands. 

When  late  the  British  lion  led 

His  legions  o'er  the  ocean's  bed 

To  try  the  towering  eagle's  might 

On  Orleans'  plains,  in  (loul)tful  tight, 

She  becked  this  hardy  yeomanry, 

Who  diarged  her  legions  merrily. 

With  l)lood  and  carnage  s])reiid  tlie  plain, 

And  chas'd  him  homeward  throngli  the  main. 

*  Lucretia. 


kecords  of  early  and  present  residents.  275 

The  Cotter  Family. 

Andrew  Cotter  was  a  blacksmith  by  ti-ade,  and  emigrated  to 
Cornwall  from  Haddam.  and  set  up  his  shop  and  dwelling  where 
Harvey  Baldwin  now  resides,  in  North  Cornwall. 

He  was  much  respected  as  a  man  and  citizen,  and  married 
Rhoda  Rogers,  daughter  of  Dea.  Noah  Rogers.  At  his  marriage, 
Dea.  Rogers  gave  him  the  largest  part  of  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Cotter  Farm,"  situated  on  the  Housatonic  River.  They  were  the 
parents  of  six  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy;  names  of 
survivors  were  John,  Ambrose,  Eber,  Eliza. 

John  married  Sabra  Smith  of  Kent,  and  their  children  were 
Elizabeth  and  Harriet. 

Ambrose  married  Mary  Ann  Pratt  of  Guilford,  by  whom  he 
had  six  childi-en;  their  names  were  Samuel,  James,  Charles,  Henry, 
Elizabeth,  and  Emma.  He  afterwards  married  Mary  Talcott  of 
Vernon,  Conn. ;  they  had  no  children. 

Ehei:  married  Bathsheba  Talcott  of  Vernon;  they  had  three 
children,  but  one  of  whom,  Rhoda,  lived  to  grow  up.  His  second 
wife  was  Mrs.  Ralph  Talcott  (Susan  Bull);  they  had  no  children. 

Eliza    married    George    Wheaton    of    Cornwall;  they  had    one 

child,  Lucetta.     The  Cotter  family  was  highly  respected  in  all  its 

branches. 

The  Baldwin  I^'amily. 

Henry  Baldwin  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  from  Saybrook, 
Conn.  He  served  as  a  private  during  the  war,  and  returned  home 
at  its  close,  with  $150  of  "Continental  money "  in  his  pocket. 
This  soon  depreciated  in  value  to  such  an  extent,  that  he  offered 
the  whole  sum  in  exchange  for  a  bushel  of  wheat,  and  was  refused. 

Not  discouraged  by  adversity,  he  soon  after  married  Jane  Ship- 
man,  a  native  of  the  same  town,  and  emigrated  to  Cornwall,  where 
he  became  the  tenant  of  Dea.  Noah  Rogers,  on  the  farm  now 
owned  by  T.  S.  Gold,  in  Cornwall  Hollow. 

Here  were  born  to  him  twelve  children,  ten  of  whom  outlived 
their  parents.  Their  names  were  Ithamar,  Henry,  Jane,  Ann, 
Hannah,  Polly,  Noah,  Jabez,  William,  and  Abby. 

ItJuimar  m.  Electa  Millard  of  Cornwall;  had  children,  Charles, 
Lucretia,  and  Marcia. 

Henry  m.  Mitylene  Millai'd  of  Cornwall;  two  of  their  three  chil- 
dren lived  to  grow  up.  William  and  Artemisia. 

Jane  m.  Joel  Trowbridge  of  Goshen;  had  four  children,  Lucy, 
Caroline,  Mary,  and  Anson. 


276  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Ann  did  not  marry. 

Hannah  m.  James  Ford  of  Cornwall;  had  children  who  lived  to 
maturity,  John,  Chester,  Chauncey,  James,  Ellen.  Mary,  Sarah, 
and  Lydia. 

Polly  m.  Chester  Markham  of  Wrentham,  Mass. ;  had  children, 
Martha,  Phebe,  and  William. 

N'oah  m.  Sabra  Smith  Cotter,  widow  of  John  Cotter  of  Corn- 
wall; his  children  were  Andrew  and  Chauncey. 

W-illiam  m.  Julia  Trafford  of  Cornwall,  and  had  children, 
Henry,  Horace,  James,  Russell,  Prank,  Edward,  Electa,  and  Eliza- 
beth, besides  one  boy  who  died  in  childhood. 

Abhy  m.  Rogers  White  of  Cornwall;  had  children,  Edward  and 
Cynthia. 

Mrs.  Henry  Baldwin  was  a  notable  housewife,  and  it  was  a  com- 
mon remark,  that  "  Miss  Baldin's  Johnny-cake  was  ahead  of  some 
peoples'  loaf-cake  stuffed  full  of  raisins." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Baldwin  brought  up  their  family  in  habits  of 
industry,  integrity,  and  sobriety;  and  it  is  believed  that  no  mem- 
ber of  the  family,  or  its  descendants  thus  far,  has  brought  disgrace 
upon  the  name. 

Capt.  Phineas  Baldwin  and  Harry  Baldwin,  brothers,  came  from 
Milford. 

Phineas  m.  Nancy  Rexford,  and  had  children,  Rexford,  Riley, 
and  Robert,  and  a  daughter,  wife  of  R.  T.  Miner. 

He  was  a  carpenter  and  joiner,  and  lived  at  South  Cornwall. 
His  sons  were  farmers  and  lived  in  the  same  vicinity. 

Harvey  Baldwin  is  a  farmer;  bought  the  Joel  Catlin  place  at 
North  Cornwall,  where  he  now  resides.     He  has  no  children. 

Birdsey  Baldwin  was  of  still  another  family,  and  came  from 
Goshen  in  1841.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  lived  at  West  Cornwall; 
one  son,  Daniel,  lives  at  West  Cornwall,  as  also  a  daughter,  Laura, 
widow  of  Myron  Hubbell;  another  son,  Abrain  E.,  graduated  at 
Yale,  1854,  studied  theology,  and  is  now  a  successful  clergyman 
at  Bomid  Brook,  N.  J. 

The  Calhoun  Family. 

Dr.  John  Calhoun,  son  of  Dr.  John  Calhoun  of  Washington, 
came  to  (Jornwall  in  1792,  and  in  1804  was  followed  by  his  brother 
Dea.  Jedediah  Calhoun,  who  located  as  a  farmer  in  the  southwest 
part  of  the  town.  Dr.  Calhoun  was  a  successful  practitioner  for 
forty-six  years,  and  had  a  numerous  family. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  277 

Mary  m.  Rufus  Payne;  Sarah  F.  m.  Stephen  J.  (xold;  Ruth  m. 
Frederic  Kellogg;  Charlotte  m.  Myron  Harrison;  Harriett  m.  Wm. 
L.  Clark;  Joseph  Fay,  residing- in  Wolcottville;  John  Benjamin, 
residing  near  Chicago. 

The  children  of  Dea.  Calhoun  were:  John  Clark,  m.  Sarah  War- 
ner of  Plymouth,  June,  1840;  Frederic  J.;  David  P.,  who  lived 
at  West  Haven;  Mary,  m.  Chas.  L.  Ford  of  Washington;  Abby  J. 

John  C.  Calhoun  went  as  a  clerk  to  Plymouth  in  1832,  and  after- 
wards engaged  there  in  mercantile  business.  In  1846  he  went  to 
New  York,  establishing  the  firm  of  Calhoun  &  Vanderburg.  The 
firm  was  afterwards  changed  to  Robbins,  Calhoun  &  Co.  As  a  busi- 
ness man  he  was  eminently  successful,  rapidly  accumulating  a  hand- 
some fortune;  but  he  was  better  known  to  us  as  a  liberal-hearted 
Christian  gentleman.  His  love  for  the  quiet  scenery  of  his  native 
town  induced  him  to  purchase  for  a  summer  residence  the  old 
homestead  of  Parson  Stone,  in  the  village  of  Cornwall,  about  1866. 
The  enthusiasm  with  which  he  entered  upon  its  improvement  was 
only  surpassed  by  his  public  spirit  and  liberality.  The  adornment 
of  the  cemetery  at  South  Cornwall,  upon  which  he  expended 
.^1,000,  and  for  the  permanent  care  of  which  he  gave  .$1,000,  se- 
curely invested,  and  the  establishment  of  a  town  library,  with  a 
trust  fund  of  $2,000  for  its  annual  enlargement,  are  examples  of 
his  judicious  use  of  the  property  committed  to  his  stewardship. 
He  died  in  New  York,  November  26,  1874.  We  mourn  his  death 
as  a  great  public  misfortune.     He  left  two  promising  sons. 

The  Birdseye  Family. 
Ebenezer  Birdseye,  residing  in  the  south  part  of  the  town,  had  a 
son.  Victory,  who  received  a  liberal  education  and  became  a  prom- 
inent lawyer,  residing  at  Pompey,  N.  Y.  He  represented  his  dis- 
trict in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  was  appointed  an 
especial  attorney  to  prosecute  the  abductors  of  Morgan.  His  son, 
Judge  Lucius  Birdseye,  of  New  York,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale, 
1841.  There  are  none  of  the  name  now  residing  in  Cornwall. 
Ezekiel  B.,  brother  of  Victory,  went  West. 

The  Andrews  Family'. 

Rev.  WilHam  Andrews  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church  at 

South  Cornwall,  July  25,  1827,  where  he  remained  till  his  death, 

January  1,  1838.     For  his  record  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr. 

Stone's  Ecclesiastical  History.     He  had  a  numerous  family,  whose 


278  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

youth  was  spent  in  Cornwall,  and  are  remembered  here  with  high 
esteem,  and  Cornwall  claims  an  interest  in  their  honorable  record. 

William  Watson,  born  at  Windham,  Conn.,  in  1810,  was  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  in  1831.  He  was  pastor  of  the  Congre- 
gational church  at  Kent,  Conn.,  for  fifteen  years.  Has  resided  at 
AVethersfield  for  some  years. 

Edward  Warren,  l)orn  at  Windham  in  1811,  studied  law,  and 
was  partner  of  Hon.  Truman  Smith,  at  Litchfield;  afterwards 
studied  theology,  and  was  settled  at  West  Hartford,  New  York 
City,  and  Troy,  N.  Y.  He  established  the  Alger  Institute  at 
Cornwall,  and  subsequently  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  He  was 
an  officer  in  the  army  during  the  war. 

Sarah  Parkhill,  married  Mr.  A.  W.  Hyde,  of  Castleton,  Vt., 
and  died  in  1840. 

Israel  Ward,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  born  at  Danbury,  Conn.,  January  3, 
1815,  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1837.  He  taught  the 
Academy  at  Lee,  Mass.,  for  fifteen  months;  was  appointed  Tutor 
at  Marietta  College  in  1838,  Prof essor  of  Mathematics  in  1839,  and 
President  in  1855,  which  office  he  still  holds. 

Samuel  James,  born  at  Danl^ury,  1817,  was  graduated  at  Wil- 
liams College  in  1839.  After  practicing  law  for  a  short  time,  he 
entered  the  ministry,  and  was  settled  at  East  Windsor.  He  has 
resided  for  many  years  at  Hartford. 

Timothy  Langdon  was  born  at  Danbury  in  1819,  studied  medi- 
cine at  Castleton,  \^t.,  practiced  at  New  Orleans,  was  an  editor  in 
California  and  then  in  Ohio,  and  is  now  engaged  in  his  profession 
at  Creston,  Iowa. 

Ebenezer  Baldwin  was  born  in  Danbury  in  1821,  was  gradu- 
ated at  Marietta  College  in  1842,  became  pastor  of  the  North  Con- 
gregational church  at  New  Britain,  Conn.,  and  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  Geology,  etc.,  at  Marietta  College  in  1851.  ]n  1870  he 
was  appointed  Assistant  Geologist  for  (jhio,  and  now  resides  at 
Lancaster,  O.  He  was  two  years  in  the  army,  Colonel  of  the  36l1i 
0.  V.  i.  The  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  on  him  by  Marietta 
College  in  1870. 

The  Ives  Family. 

Theodore  Ives,  brother  of  Cephas  Ives  of  Goshen,  abimt  1800 
came  from  that  town,  married  a  daughter  of  Noah  Rogers,  4th, 
and  set  up  his  trade  at  North  Cornwall.     He  had   but  one   son, 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AXD    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  279 

Theodore,  who  now  occupies  his  farm.     Theodore  married  Mary, 
daughter  of  Leete  Rogers,  and  has  thi'ee  children. 

Rev.  Mark  Ives,  son  of  Cephas,  received  a  liberal  education,  and 
went  as  a  missionary  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  1 836,  and  remained 
there  fourteen  yeai-s,  when,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  his  health, 
he  returned  to  this  country  with  his  family,  and  settled  as  a  farmer 
in  Cornwall.  Those  who  enjoy  the  privilege  of  a  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ives,  can  testify  to  their  rich 
Christian  experience,  the  true  missionary  spirit,  not  exhausted  by 
their  residence  in  heathen  lands,  but  developed  and  enlarged. 

In  answer  to  my  inquiries,  Mr.  Ives  has  furnished  some  interest- 
ing facts  connected  with  his  residence  in  the  Sandwich  Islands: 

'•I  graduated  at  Union  College  in  the  summer  of  1833;  studied 
divinity  two  years  at  Andover,  and  nearly  a  year  at  East  Windsor. 
My  wife's  name  was  Mary  Anna  Brainerd,  of  North  Guilford. 
We  sailed  from  Boston  December  14,  1836.  I  remained  at  the 
Sandwich  Islands  fourteen  years.  J  was  absent  from  the  United 
States  fourteen  and  a  half  years.  My  wife  was  absent  seventeen 
and  a  half  years.  We  were  stationed  at  Hana,  on  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  Mani,  a  place  much  exposed  to  the  trade- winds.  We 
commenced  life  in  a  house  made  by  planting  posts  in  the  ground 
and  sticks  tied  across  tliem;  the  whole  covered  with  grass.  On 
March  "21,  1838,  during  my  absence,  our  house  took  fire  and  burned 
to  the  ground.  This  left  us  very  much  exposed;  my  wife  took  a 
severe  cold,  and  was  threatened  with  consumption.  We  were  con- 
sequently removed  to  Kealakekua,  on  the  east  side  of  Hawaii 
((Jwyhee).  Here  we  lived  nine  years,  or  until  my  health  failed. 
With  the  advice  of  the  physicians,  and  being  commended  by  the 
mission  to  our  secretary  in  Boston,  I  left  the  Sandwich  Islands 
December  9.  18.50.  My  health  not  being  restored  as  was  expected, 
my  family  left  there  December  1,  1853. 

"We  have  four  children.  Our  eldest  son,  Joseph  Brainerd,  is 
laboring  as  a  home  missionary  in  Douglas,  Butler  County,  Kansas. 
Our  second  son,  Harlan  Page,  is  living  near  us,  in  Cornwall.  He 
has  seven  children.  Our  third  child,  Mary  Parnelhe,  is  with  us, 
at  home.  Our  youngest  daughter,  Hattie  Elizabeth,  is  teaching 
school  in  the  vicinity  of  Waterbury. 

Kealakekua,  where  we  were  last  stationed,  is  about  a  mile  from 
Haawaloa,  where  Mr.  Ely  lived,  and  where  C!apt.  Cook  lost  his  Kfe. 
The  trees  around  bore  marks  of  cannon-balls,  fired  among  the 
natives  to  revenge*,  his  death. 


280  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Kealakekua  is  where  Opukaia  (Obookiah)  lived.  Here  was  for- 
merly a  small  pen,  enclosed  by  a  rude  stone  wall,  where  he  wor- 
shiped. In  this  was  a  cocoanut-tree  planted  by  his  own  hands,  the 
fruit  of  which  was  given  to  none  but  to  us  missionaries. 

Contiguous  to  this  was  the  temple  where  Capt.  Cook  allowed 
himself  to  be  worshiped  as  God.  The  stones  of  that  temple  con- 
tributed towards  building  a  large  house  of  worship  to  Jehovah. 

We  arrived  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  just  before  the  great 
revival  that  swept  over  the  islands  and  lasted  two  years.  There 
was  no  diificulty  in  getting  crowded  houses  and  attentive  listeners. 
There  seemed  to  be  an  almost  universal  desire  to  enter  the  church. 

A  church  was  organized  at  Kealakekua,  under  the  care  of  Mr. 
Forbes,  of  3,000  members,  and  another  at  Kealia,  twelve  miles 
beyond,  of  nearly  as  many,  which  was  under  my  care. 

The  children  of  a  suitable  age  were  without  exception  gathered 
into  schools.  Our  thirty-three  schools  numbered  over  1,000  chil- 
dren, 996  of  whom  were  present  in  the  schools  when  I  last  exam- 
ined them. 

His  second  son,  Harlan,  married  a  daughter  of  William  Vail,  by 
whom  he  has  a  numerous  family. 

The  Dean  Family. 

John  Dean,  the  shoemaker,  had  children,  Zerah,  Jerijah,  Jere- 
siah,  William,  and  Ethel.  Zerah  had  children,  Theodore,  living 
in  Sharon;  one  daughter  married  William  Smith,  and  another, 
Alvin  Palmer.  Jerijah,  father  of  William  Dean,  now  living  at 
West  Cornwall.  Jeresiah  had  daughters,  Mary,  married  Barbarina 
Eggleston;  Morilla,   married    Daniel    Bronson;  William,  married 

Richardson,  and  went  to  Sharon.     His  descendants  now 

live  in  Winsted. 

Ensign    Nathan  Millard, 
father   of    Joel   Millard,  settled    on   Cream   Hill.     Joel   married 
Azubah  Sherwood,  and  had  children,  Ebenezer  Sherwood;  Sub- 
mit, married  Henry  Baldwin,  lived  in  Cornwall;  Electa,  married 

Ithamar  Baldwin,  lived   in   Cornwall;  Amanda,   married  

Kilborn,  a  hatter,  and  lived  in  Litchfield;  Melissa;  John  Walker, 
went  to  New  Marlboro,  and  thence  to  Illinois;  Azubah,  married 
Rood  of  Sheffield. 

His  second  wife  was  Mrs.  Theodore  Norton,  and  had  children, 
Clarissa  and  Fcanklin.  Mr.  Millard  removed  with  his  son  AValker 
to  New  Marlboro,  about  1835,  having  sold  his  farm  to  E.  D.  Pratt. 


RECORDS    OP    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  281 

Mr.  Millard  was  proverbially  a  slow  man,  yet  the  abundant 
young  life  in  his  family  must  have  made  lively  times. 

The  Rexpord  Family. 

Rev.  Grurdon  Rexford,  a  Methodist  minister,  and  his  brother 
Samuel  Rexford,  settled  on  Cream  Hill,  towards  the  close  of  the 
last  century. 

Samuel  had  one  son,  Riley,  who  succeeded  to  the  ownership  of 
his  farm,  and  a  daughter,  Nancy,  who  married  Capt.  Phineas 
Baldwin  and  resided  at  South  Cornwall. 

Riley  married  Sarah  Scoville  and  had  two  daughters.  Harriet 
married  Aaron  Chase  of  Saratoga  County,  N.  Y.,  and  Hves  in 
Sheffield,  Mass. ;  and  Jane  married  Thomas  Bosworth  of  Duchess 
County,  and  hves  at  West  Cornwall. 

Mr,  Rexford  was  a  farmer,  endeared  to  his  neighbors  by  his 
kind,  neighborly  ways,  to  whom  his  genial  presence  was  always 
gratifying. 

The  Prindle  Family. 

Abiel  Prindle,  who  lived  near  Cream  Hill  lake,  was  the  father  of 
"Warren  and  Joseph  Prindle;  he  also  had  two  daughters,  Alice, 
married  Mr.  Barnes;  and  Anna.  Warren  had  sons,  Samuel  and 
Harmanus,  who  still  survive  and  have  families.  Joseph  and  Anna 
lived  to  a  good  old  age,  but  remained  unmarried.  Joseph  was 
quite  a  character  in  his  day.  He  was  an  indulged  boy,  who  played 
truant,  and  grew  up  a  slave  to  a  hard  master,  even  his  own  ungov- 
erned  passions.  In  his  youth  he  had  some  ambition,  and  aspired  to 
the  study  of  Latin,  and  to  making  poetry.     One  stanza  will  suffice: 

"  Dr.  Frank, 
He  felt  so  crank, 
He  danced  like  a  dandy,  O ; 
He  jumped  so  high 
He  hit  the  sky, 
And  thought  he'd  got  Miss  Pangman,  O." 

The  Judson  Family. 
Samuel  Agur  Judson  came  to  Cornwall  in  1794,  with  his  sister, 
Sarah  A.,  from  Old  Mill,  Bridgeport,  and  bought  the  farm  from 
Mr.  Thorp,  where  Harlan  Ives  now  resides.  He  had  one  son, 
Samuel  Wesley,  and  several  daughters.  A  few  years  since  he  went 
to  New  York  to  live  with  his  son,  and  died  there  in  his  89th  year. 
Samuel  Wesley  was  a  graduate  of  Union  College;  taught  the 
academy  in  Goshen  for  several  terms,  about  1830;  studied  law, 
and  estabhshed  himself  in  New  York.  As  a  lawyer,  he  is  more 
36 


282  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

distinguislied  for  his  learning,  integrity,  and  honesty,  than  for  his 
briUiancy  as  a  pleader.  If  lawyers  were  more  generally  of  his 
style,  we  should  have  fewer  lawsuits  and  more  justice. 

The  Reed  Family. 

Eli  Reed  was  a  native  of  Fairfield  County.  He  was  a  goldsmith 
in  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  and  resided  in  Poughkeepsie.  He 
went  to  New  York,  designing  to  remove  his  family  there,  but  died, 
leaving  a  widow  and  six  children.  Her  name  was  Weed,  and  she 
went  back  to  her  friends  in  Fairfield  County,  afterwards  removing 
with  one  of  her  brothers  to  Greenfield,  Saratoga  County,  N.  Y. 
Two  of  her  sons  came  to  Cornwall.  Hawley  Reed  married 
a  daughter  of  James  Wadsworth;  died,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years, 
in  1841,  Had  children,  James,  who  married  Rhoda,  daughter  of 
Richard  Wickwire,  and  bought  the  farm  of  his  father-in-law  on 
Cream  Hill,  and  reared  a  numerous  family,  who  are  still  with  us  ; 
Hawley,  John,  Henry,  Samuel — who  lives  in  the  south  part  of  the 
town,  and  has  a  family;  also  several  daughters — one  married 
Hiram  Garner. 

Henry,  ten  years  younger  than  Hawley,  came  to  Cornwall  in 
his  boyhood,  and  lived  with  Capt.  Pierce  and-Capt.  Edward 
Rogers.  In  1799  married  Sarah  Abiah  Judson,  who  was  born  at 
Old  Mill,  Bridgeport,  in  1770,  and  came  to  Cornwall  in  1794,  with 
her  brother,  Samuel  Agur  Judson. 

Mr.  Reed  bought  the  farm  in  the  Hollow  at  the  foot  of  Bunker 

Hill,  now  Solon  Johnson's,  and  resided  there  till  his  death,  in  1842, 

aged  68.     He  had  two  daughters,  one  of  whom,  Alicia,  lives  in 

Goshen. 

The  Marsh  Family. 

Dr.  Isaac  Marsh  was  born  in  1777,  in-Litchfield,  where  his  ances- 
tors had  lived.  His  father  and  grandfather  were  also  named  Isaac. 
He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Woodward  of  Torringford,  but 
being  of  rather  a  nervous  temperament,  shrank  from  the  practice 
of  the  profession.  He  was  occupied  for  a  time  as  druggist,  but 
temporarily  took  up  the  business  of  farming,  and  followed  it  for 
life.  He  married  in  1803,  and  in  1820  bought  a  farm  in  Cornwall 
of  Rev.  Asa  Talmage,  located  near  the  Housatonic  River,  north  of 
the  intersection  of  the  Waller  Hill  road  with  the  Warren  turnpike. 
This  was  two  miles  north  of  Hart's  Bridge,  now  West  Cornwall. 
At  that  time  there  was  but  one  house  at  the  bridge,  called  the 
"Hart  House,"  where  now  stands  the  residence  of  Isaac  Marsh. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  283 

Dr.  Marsh  died  in  1829,  set.  fifty-two.  His  oldest  son  Isaac,  now 
residing  at  West  Cornwall,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years,  is  the 
only  survivor  of  seven  children.  Has  held  the  ofBce  of  town  clerk, 
and  other  offices  of  trust.  The  second  son  died  at  Racine,  Wis., 
in  1873,  set.  sixty -four.  Five  daughters  died  young — betM^een 
1828-38,  aged  from  seventeen  to  twenty -five  years. 

The   Stoddard  Family. 

William  Stoddard  came  from  Woodbury,  m.  Mary  Willis  of 
Cornwall,  May  27,  1809,  and  settled  as  a  manufacturer  and  farmer 
on  the  Pond  brook,  one  and  a  half  miles  from  West  Cornwall. 
His  farm  is  now  owned  by  S.  P.  Fritz ;  the  mill-privilege  by  T.  S. 
Gold.  His  old  satinet  factory,  gone  to  decay,  is  owned  by  S.  M. 
Gledhill.  Mr.  Stoddard  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  none  of 
whom  reside  in  Cornwall. 

His  wife  Mary  died  in  1837,  aged  forty-four,  and  he  died  in 
1875,  aged  eighty-six;  children,  Hammond,  b.  Oct.  30,  1810,  m 
Sally  A.  Wheeler  of  Salisbury;  Sarah  M.,  b.  June  31,  1812,  m 
Henry  L.  Safford,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.;  Harriet,  b.  March  17,  1814,  d 
March  20,  1836;  Seth,  b.  Ma^rch  22,  1816,  d.  Jan.  1,  1859 
m.  Mary  Ann  Brush,  and  lived  in  New  Haven;  Jane,  b.  March  17 
1818,  d.  Feb.  24,  1832;  Minerva  A.,  b.  March  27,  1820,  m.  Hor 
ace  H.  Sexton,  Hartford;  Elizabeth  S.,  b.  Nov.  9,  1823,  m.  Hon 
C.  P.  Huntington,  New  York. 

In  the  account  of  the  Chapel  at  West  Cornwall,  notice  is  given 
of  the  liberal  gift  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Huntington  to  that  enterprise. 

Clara,  b.  July  21,  1824,  m.  Edward  Prentice  of  Canaan,  resides 
in  Colorado;  Hannah,  b.  Aug.  15,  1826,  m.  Daniel  Hammond  of 
Oneonta,  N.  Y.,  resides  in  California;  William  M.,  b.  Nov.  12, 
1828,  m.  Jennie  Wilson,  California;  Mary  J.,  b.  Aug.  12,  1831,  m. 
Delos  Emmons,  Oneonta,  N.  Y.,  resides  in  Huntington,  West  Vir- 
ginia; Julia  M.,  b.  Feb.  16,  1834,  m.  Asa  N.  Hawley  of  Newtown. 

This  family  are  widely  scattered,  and  their  history  would  fill  a 
volume.  Few  families  in  New  England  can  boast  of  more  varied 
experience  and  greater  influence. 

The  Mallory  Family. 

Dea.  Eliakim  Mallory  came  from  Hamden,  near  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  and  settled  where  Julius  Hart  now  lives.  Frequent 
mention  of  his  name  appears  in  the  Church  History. 

His  first  wife  was   Sarah  Bradley  of  Stockbridge,   Mass.,   by 


284  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

whom  lie  had  five  children,  Ezra,  Eliakim,  Philomela,  Sarah,  and 
Mary  Ann,  who  married  Miner  Pratt  of  Cream  Hill.  His  second 
wife  was  widow  Johnson  (Olive  Donglas),  by  whom  he  had  two 
children, — Bradley,  m.  widow  Wadsworth  (Tabitha  Clark);  Olive, 
m.  Mr.  Kellogg,  and  went  to  Green  River,  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Bradley  had  six  children, — Almon,  Davis  C,  Ambrose,  Harri- 
ette,  Jane,  and  Mary;  Almon  m.  daughter  of  Rev.  Asa  Talmage, 
is  a  Baptist  minister,  and  lives  at  Benton  Center,  N.  Y. 

The  Smith  Family. 

The  Smiths  have  never  been  very  numerous  in  Cornwall.  Rev. 
Walter  Smith  came  from  Kent  in  1819,  and  in  1838  went  to  Ohio. 
He  had  sons, — Matthew  LaRue  Perrine,  and  twins,  Walter  and 
Harvey.  Perrine  lives  at  the  West.  Walter  settled  as  a  lawyer  in 
Mt.  Vernon,  Ohio,  and  is  now  in  government  employ  at  Washing- 
ton. Harvey  was  a  physician  in  New  York,  and  died  at  Mt. 
Vernon,  Ohio. 

David  Smith,  who  for  a  time  lived  in  the  Hollow,  came  from 
the  Sharon  side  of  the  Housatonic,  and  returned  to  the  same 
neighborhood  after  a  few  years.    " 

William  and  Frank  Smith  were  brothers,  and  lived  near  Gold's 
mill  in  1850-60.  William  m.  Nancy  Dean,  and  had  one  daughter, 
Honora.     He  removed  to  Newark,  N.  J. 

Frank  Smith  had  a  numerous  family  of  promising  boys.  He 
removed  to  Brookfield,  Conn.,  where  he  now  resides.  One  son, 
Thomas,  left  a  leg  on  a  battlefield  of  Virginia. 

The  Gold  Family. 

This  family  was  connected  with  the  earliest  settlement  of  the 
State.  By  these  first  settlers  for  three  generations  the  name  was 
spelled  Gold,  yet  for  some  reason,  portions  of  the  family  have 
changed  to  Gould,  yet  most  of  those  holding  that  name  have  no 
connection  with  the  Golds.  In  this  record  we  give  the  name  as 
spelled  by  the  owners,  descendants  of  Major  Nathan  Gold. 

Major  Nathan  Gold  married  Martha,  widow  of  Edward  Harvey. 
They  had  only  one  son,  Nathan,  and  daughters,  Sarah,  who  married 
John  Thompson  ;  Deborah,  who  married  George  Clark  ;  Abigail, 
who  married  Jonathan  Sellick. 

Major  Nathan  Gold  removed  from  St.  Edmondsbury,  in  South 
Britain,  to  Fairfield,  Conn.,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  town.     He  was  a  wealthy  and  edu- 


RECOKDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  285 

cated  gentleman,  and  is  often  mentioned  in  Smith's  History  of  New- 
York. 

In  the  first  volume  of  the  town  records  of  Fairfield,  we  find  him 
a  landholder  in  1649,  and  in  1653,  a  purchaser  of  fifteen  separate 
pieces  of  land,  some  of  which  remains  in  the  possession  of  his 
descendants  of  the  sixth  generation. 

He  was  one  of  the  petitioners  (nineteen  in  number)  named  in 
the  charter  of  Connecticut,  dated  April  12th,  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II,  which  petition  "  was  signed  by  no 
gentleman  unless  he  had  sustained  a  high  reputation  in  England 
before  he  came  to  New  England." 

He  was  an  assistant  or  member  of  the  Council  from  1657  to 
1694,  and  "  departed  this  life  into  the  Mantions  of  Rest  upon  the 
day  of  Rest,  on  Saboth,  it  being  the  4th  day  of  March,  1693-4." 

Inventory  of  his  estate,  £400  3s.  6d. 

There  is  a  gun  in  the  possession  of  T.  S.  Gold,  which  tradition 
says  was  brought  by  him  from  England. 

Nathan  Gold,  Jr., 
married  Hannah,  born  in  Hartford,    Dec.   8,   1663,   daughter  of 
Lieut. -Col.  John  Talcott  and  Helena  Wakeman.     He  died  Oct.  3, 
1723.     Hannah  died  March   28,  1696.     His  second  wife,  Sarah, 
died  Oct.  17,  1711. 

Had  children  :  Abigail,  born  Feb.,  1687,  married  Rev.  Thomas 
Hawley  of  Ridgefield;  John,  born  April  25,  1688,  married  Hannah 
Slawson,  died  Sept.  23,  1766  ;  Nathan,  born  April  6,  1690;  Samuel, 

born  Dec.  27,  1692.  had  six  children;  Joseph,  born ,  died 

Oct.  11,  1769,  dd.  77;  Rev.  Hezekiah,  born ,  1694,  had  13  chil- 
dren; Onesiraus,  married  and  had  a  family;  David;  Martha,  mar- 
ried Samuel  Sherman,  April  4,  1728. 

Nathan  Gold,  Jr.,  was  long  engaged  in  public  service;  was  Re- 
corder of  the  town  of  Fairfield  for  many  years,  was  an  Assistant  from 
1694  to  1723,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1712,  and 
Lieut.-Gov.  from  1708  to  1723,  a  period  of  fifteen  years. 

We  can  find  no  trace  of  any  living  descendants  from  his  sons, 
except  from  Samuel  and  Hezekiah.  A  copy  of  his  will,  as  recorded 
in  Hartford,  is  here  given. 

Inventory  of  his  estate,  £2,953  6s.  Sd. 

Will  of  Nathan    Gold. 

Superior  Court  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  in  New  England, 
Vol.  ni,  p.  545  : 


286  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

John  Gold  of  Fairfield,  &c.,  Executors  to  the  Last  Will  and  Testament 
of  the  Honl.  Nathan  Gold,  Esq.,  late  of  s'^  Fairfield,  deceased,  appealed 
to  this  Court  from  the  Determination  of  the  Court  of  Probate,  held  at 
Fairfield,  November  27th,  1723,  not  approving  the  s'^  Last  Will  and 
Testament,  the  s*  Appellants  appeared  at  this  Court  to  set  up  the  s**  Will, 
and  no  person  appearing  to  oppose  them,  or  to  object  against  the 
approving  thereof,  the  s*  Will  being  proved  in  the  s'^  Court  of  Probate, 
the  same  is  bj'  this  Court  approved  of,  and  ordered  to  be  recorded. 

In  the  name  of  God,  Amen. 

I,  Nathan  Gold,  Sen.,  of  Fairfield,  in  the  County  of  Fairfield,  in  the 
Colony  of  Connecticut,  in  New  England,  being  very  sick  in  body,  yet  of 
good  understanding,  and  sound  memory,  knowing  that  I  must  shortly 
put  ofi'  this  Earthly  Tabernacle,  and  accounting  it  my  Duty  to  set  my  house 
in  Order,  do  make  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament,  in  manner  and  form 
following,  hereby  revoking  and  annulling  every  and  all  other  Will  and 
Wills,  Testament  and  Testaments  heretofore  made  by  me,  declaring  this 
to  be  my  last  Will  and  Testament. 

Lnprimis.  I  give  and  bequeath  my  precious  and  immortal  Soul  to  God 
through  Jesus  Christ,  my  Glorious  Redeemer,  hoping  for  acceptance 
through  Him. 

My  Body  I  commit  to  the  Earth,  to  be  decently  Interred  according  to 
the  Discretion  of  my  Executor  or  Executors  hereafter  named  hoping  for 
a  Blessed  Ressurrection  to  Eternal  life  in  the  last  day.  And  as  to  the 
temporal  Estate  which  it  hath  pleased  God  to  bestow  upon  me,  I  dispose 
of  it  as  followeth  : 

And  now  my  Will  is  that  all  my  Just  Debts  &  Funeral  Charges  be  first 
paid  and  then  Imprimis  I  give  and  bequeath  a  double  portion  of  my 
whole  Estate,  to  my  Eldest  Son  John  Gold,  reckoning  what  he  hath 
already  had  of  me. 

Item.  I  give  to  my  Son  Nathan  Gold  one  full  single  share  of  my  whole 
Estate,  and  One  hundred  pounds  over  and  above  the  s*  share. 

Item.  I  give  to  my  Son  Samuel  Gold,  Oue  single  share  of  my  whole 
Estate,  reckoning  in  what  he  hath  already  had  of  me. 

Item.  I  give  to  my  Son  Hezekiah  Gold  fifty  pounds  over  and  above 
what  I  have  expendecl  upon  liim  for  his  learning,  this  to  be  the  whole 
of  his  portion. 

Item.  I  give  to  my  Son  in  Law  Thomas  Hawley  of  Ridgefield  The 
sum  of  One  hundred  pounds,  besides  what  he  hath  already  had  with  my 
Daughter  Abigail,  this  to  be  the  whole  of  her  portion. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  Daughter  Martha  Gold,  the  sum  of 
two  hundred  pounds,  this  to  be  the  whole  of  her  portion. 

Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  Sons  Onesimus  Gold,  David 
Gold,  and  Joseph  Gold,  tliat  is  to  each  of  them  one  single  share  of  my 
whole  Estate,  And  I  do  hereby  constitute  and  appoint  my  loving  Sons 
John  Gold,  Nathan  Gold,  and  Samuel  Gold  to  be  Executors  of  this  my 
last  Will  &  Testament.  And  this  to  be  my  last  Will  and  Testament,  I 
declare  by  setting  to  my  hand  and  Seal  in  Fairfield  this  twentieth  day 
of  September  Anno  Domini  1723  Annoq"  R.  R".  Georgii,  Magna  Brittauia 
»&c.  Decimo. 

Signed,  Sealed,  pronounced  & 
declared  to  be  his  last  will  and  NATPIAN  GOLD,  [seal.] 

Testament  In  presence  of 

Jos.  Wakeman        )  Memorandum  ;  I  give  to  Sarah  Clarke 

Thomas  Hanpord  [-  the  sum  of  five  pds. 

Ephraim  Burr 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY   AKD    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  287 

Capt.  Joseph  "Wakeiiian,  Tliomas  Hanford  &  Ephraim  Burr  named  as 
witnesses  to  the  above  Will,  apjiroved  in  the  Court  of  Probate  held  in 
Fairtield  November  27th  1723  and  each  of  them  acknowledged  their 
names  above  wi'itten  to  be  their  Character  and  that  they  set  their 
names  as  witnesses  to  the  s"^  Will  and  did  testify  and  declare  upon  their 
Oaths  that  they  saw  the  Testator,  the  Hon'  Nathan  Gold  Sign  and  Seal 
the  Instrument  written  above  and  on  the  other  side  of  this  jiaper  and 
lieard  him  declare  it  to  be  his  last  Will  and  Testament,  and  they  each 
for  himself  did  further  declare,  tliat  they  did  Judge  tiie  s"*  Testator  then 
to  be  of  sound  mind  and  in  a  disposing  frame,  and  the  s''  Wakeman  also 
said  that  he  heard  the  s'  Will,  audibly  read  in  the  presence  and  hearing 
of  s''  Nathan  Gold,  Ijefore  he  signed  and  sealed  it,  but  said  Hanford  and 
Burr  declared  that  they  did  not  hear  said  Will  read,  neither  did  see  the 
s''  Nathan  Gold  seem  to  read  it  to  himself. 

JOHN  GOLD  Clerk. 

Kecorded  fii-om  the  Original  August  19,  1724. 

H.  CHRISTOPHER  Clerk. 

Aaron  Gold,  son  of  Onesimus  Gold,  married  Rebecca,  daugliter 
of  Peter  Scudder  of  Long  Island,  January  27,  1761.  Scudder, 
their  son,  was  born  March  27,  1762.  Can  find  no  further  trace  of 
this  branch. 

Samuel  Gold,  (d.  1766,)  m.  Esther  Bradley,  Dec.  7,  1716,  had 
children:  David  Gold,  b.  July  11,  1717;  Esther,  b.  Oct.  13,  1719; 
Abigail,  b.  April  27,  1724;  Abell,  b.  Sept.  14,  1727,  d.  Nov.  11, 
1769;  Abraham,  b.  Oct.  12,  1730,  d.  6  w.  and  3  d.;  Col  Abraham, 
b.  May  10,  1732,  d.  1777. 

Abell  Gold,  son  of  Samuel  and  Esther,  married  Ellen,  daugh- 
ter of  (Japtain  Samuel  Burr,  December  19,  1754;  had  children: 
John,  b.  Oct.  2,  1755,  d.  Dec.  15,  1755;  Abell,  b.  Oct.  18,  1756. 

Colonel  Abraham  Gold,  son  of  Samuel  Gold,  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Capt.  John  Burr,  Jan.  1,  1754,  (she  d.  1815,  se.  84,)  and 
had  children:  Abigail,  b.  Nov.  15,  1754,  m.  Isaac  Jennings,  1770; 
Hezekiah,  b.  Dec.  9,  1756,  drowned  1789;*  Anna,  (Mrs.  Silliman,) 
Abraham  b.  1766;    Jason,  b.  1771 ;  John  Burr,   died  at  sea,  1781; 

Daniel,  died  at  sea,  coast  of  France,    1796;   Elizabeth,  m.   

Curtiss  of  Newtown;  Sarah;  Deborah,  m. Osborne,  d.  1785. 

Colonel  Abraham  Gold  was  killed  on  his  horse  by  the  British, 
at  Ridgefield,  in  1777. 

The  sword  used  by  Colonel  Abraham  Gold  is  in  the  possession 
of  Abraham  Gold  Jennings,  his  great  grandson,  who  resides  in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  his  sash  and  coat  were  deposited  in  the 
Trumbull  Gallery  at  New  Haven,     The  sword  is  straight,  silver- 

*  He  was  walking  on  a  plank  from  the  wharf  to  the  vessel,  in  New  York;  the 
end  of  the  plank  dropping  off  from  the  vessel  he  struck  his  breast,  and  was 
drowned. 


288  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

mounted,  three-cornered,  and  at  his  death  was  found  stained  with 
the  enemy's  blood.  His  body  was  carried  on  horseback  to  Fair- 
field for  burial. 

His  son  Jason  changed  his  name  to  Gould,  still  retained  by  his 
descendants.*  Jason  had  a  son  John  born  in  1801,  who  lived  in 
Fairfield  on  his  ancestral  acres,  and  died  aged  70.  Hon.  John 
Gould  held  many  positions  of  public  trust;  was  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  Fairfield  for  several  sessions,  and 
member  of  the  State  Senate  from  the  Tenth  district  in  1847;  rail- 
road commissioner  from  1854  to  1861;  in  18 64  appointed  United 
States  marshal  for  Connecticut  by  President  Lincoln,  and  held  the 
office  for  four  years.  His  widow  and  daughters  still  live  on  the 
homestead  in  Fairfield.  He  had  children:  William  Jason,  died 
September  6,  1877;  Elizabeth,  married  Captain  Wm.  Peck;  Mary 
Catherine;  John,  died  1850,  aged  18;  Julia;  James,  died  in 
infancy. 

Isaac  Jennings,  died  June  6,  1819,  and  Abigail  Gold,  his  wife,  died 

Nov.  2,  1795,  aged  41,  had  children:    Elizabeth,  m. Mason; 

Abigail;   Phoebe,   m.   Sherwood;  Abraham  Gold,  m.   Anna 

Burr,  1807;    Anna,  m.  Burr;   Isaac,  m.  Beach;    Seth; 

Polly. 

In  1786  several  of  the  descendants  of  Nathan  Gold  removed 
from  Fairfield  to  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  some  retaining  the  name 
of  Gold,  others  changing  it  to  Gould.  Their  names  were  Abra- 
ham and  his  sister  Anna,  and  their  cousins  Isaac  and  Talcott, 
brothers.  A  large  colony  cut  their  way  through  the  forests  to  the 
sources  of  the  Delaware,  over  the  Catskill  mountains. 

Abraham  Gold  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  town  affairs  of  Rox- 
bury,  N.  Y.  His  oldest  son,  John  Burr,  was  also  a  prominent  man, 
and  quite  a  hero  in  the  anti-rent  war  of  1846.  The  Fairfield  colony 
settled  on  leased  land,  rent  12|^c.  per  acre;  the  anti-renters  for- 
bade any  persons  blowing  any  dinner-horns;  but  John  B.  had  quite 
an  arsenal  in  his  house,  and  he  defied  them.  They  came  often  to 
carry  him  off  and  make  him  prisoner,  but  he  stood  his  ground. 
Abraham  Gold  died  in  1823,  agfed  57.      In  his  family  record  kept 

*  This  stone  in  the  okl  cemetery  at  Fairfield  is  the  oldest  record  we  find  where 
the  name  is  spelled  Gould  : 

A.  G. 

This  stone  is  erected  by 

Jason  Gould, 

in  memory  of  his  honored  Father 

Col.  Abraham  Gould 

Who  fell  in  defence  of  his  Country 

at  Ridgefield 

April  27th,  1777,  aged  44  years. 


RECORDS    OF    KARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  289 

by  himself  he  spelled  the  name  Gold.  His  oldest  son,  John  P>urr, 
the  first  male  child  horn  in  Roxbury.  Delhi  Co.,  N.  Y.,  continuing 
the  record  wrote   (louh]. 

Abraham  Gold  had  six  sons  and  fonr  daughters.  John  iJurr 
Gould,  his  oldest  son,  died  in  his  74th  year,  leaving  sons,  Jay 
Gould,  the  banker,  in  New  York,  and  Abram,  who  is  in  business 
in  Salt  Lake  City  ;  and  daughters,  Anna,  m.  Rev.  A.  M..  Hough  of 
the  southern  Cal.  Con.,  i'(isiding  in  Los  Angeles  ;  Mrs.  Dr.  G.  K. 
Palen  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mrs.  S.  B.  Nortlirop  of  Hackettstown. 
X.  J. 

Jason,  another  son  of  Aljraham  Gold,  settled  at  Smith's  Falls, 
U.  C,  and  died  there,  aged  61. 

Another  son  of  Abraham,  Daniel  Gold,  studied  law  in  Delhi, 
was  clerk  of  the  New  York  Legislature,  and  afterwards  appointed 
chief  clei'k  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
where  he  married  a  daughter  of  Amos  Kendall;  he  died  at  the  age 
of  41,  leaving  two  sons,  William  Jay,  an  Episcopal  clergyman, 
professor  in  college  at  Racine,  Wis.  The  other.  Sydney  Kendall, 
is  in  the  flouring  business  in  Faribault,  Minn. 

Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  of  Stratford,  third  son  uf  Hon.  Nathan 
Gold,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Ruggles,  of  Guilford, 
May  23,  1723.  He  died  April  22,  1761,  aged  67.  Mary,  his  wife, 
died  July  2,  1750,  aged  48  years.  Tiiey  had  children:  Mary, 
b.  Feb.  29,  1724,  m.  Dr.  Agur  Tomlinson,  1745,  shed.  June 
23,  1802.  a).  78;  Catee.  b.  Aug.  31,  1725,  d.  Sept.  31,  1742,  te.  18; 
Jerusha,  b.  March  G,  172G,  d.  Dec.  24,  1748,  se.  20  y.  8  mo.;  Sarah, 
b.  May  8,  1729;  Hezekiah,  b.  Jan.  18,  1731,  d.  May  30,  1790,  se.  60; 
Thomas,  b.  Jan.  8,  1733;  Anna,  b.  Dec.  15,  1734,  d.  April  9,  1739, 
se.  4  y.  and  4  mo.;  Rebekah,  b.  Sept.  24,  1736,  m.  Abraham 
Tomlinson,  a  lawyer,  Dec.  24,  1754,  she  d.  Nov.  1,  1774,  se.  38  ; 
Huldah,  b.  April  15,  1738,  m.  Samuel  Cuitiss,  Jr.,  Dec.  20,  1759; 
had  four  children:  Anna,  b.  May  14.  1740,  2d  of  the  name,  m. 
Levi  Hubbard  of  New  Haven,  had  one  son,  William  Gold,  she  d. 
se.  about  80;  Catharine,  Oct.  16,  1742,  d.  (Jct.  23,  ".743,  a;.  1  y.  7  d. : 
Abigail,  b.  Nov.  4.  1744.  m.  Samuel  Uft'ord,  Nov.  28,  17()9, 
had  seven  children,  she  d.  Dec.  3,  1817,  le.  73;  Elizabeth,  b.  Aug. 
15,  1747,  died  young  at  Guilford. 

Dr.  Agur  Tomlinson,  son  of  Zachariaii  (of  Stratford)  and  Mar\ 

Gold,  had  eleven  children.     Two  sons  lived  to  marry — Hezekiah 

and  William  Agur.     They  married  sisters  by  the  name  of  Lewis. 

Abraham   Tomlinson,    youngest   brother    of    Agur,   and    Rebecca 

37 


290  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

(xold,  had  eight  children.     One  son,  David,  lived  at  Utica,  N.  Y.. 
another  was  Dr.  Charles  of  Stratford. 

The  tombstone  of  Rebecca  bears  this  inscription: 

•'  I  liave  been  what  thou  art  now, 
And  am  wliat  thou  shah,  shortly  l>e. 
How  loved,  how  valued  once  avail  me  not. 
To  whom  related  or  by  whom  begot, 
A  heap  of  dust  alone  remains  of  me  : 
'Tis  ab  I  am  and  all  that  you  must  be." 

Catee,  second  daughter  of  Rev.  Hezekiah,  is  reported  to  have 
possessed  remarkable  beauty.  Her  golden  hair  and  large  soft  eyes 
added  grace  to  her  form,  which  was  of  rare  elegance;  a  pi;re  and 
elevated  character  and  cultivated  mind  harmonized  with  and 
added  to  her  loveliness.  Tradition  is,  that  she  was  engaged  in 
marriage  to  a  young  clergyman,  and  that  on  her  deathbed,  at  the 
early  age  of  eighteen,  she  took  off  her  gold  beads  from  her  neck, 
and  gave  them  to  him  as  a  keepsake.  He  afterwards  married  and 
lived  to  a  good  old  age,  but  at  his  death  that  string  of  beads  were 
found  on  his  neck,  where  he  had  always  worn  them, 

Thomas  married  Anna,  daughter  of  Samuel  Smith,  Feb. 
13,  1755.  It  is  reported  that  he  was  a  stone-cutter,  lived  in 
Woodbury.     Died  on  Long  Island  m  Revolutionary  army. 

Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  of  Stratford  graduated  at  Harvard*  1719; 
was  ordained  over  the  church  in  Stratford  in  June,  1722.  His 
ministry  was  blessed  with  large  additions  to  the  church.  President 
Edwards,  in  his  account  of  the  "  Great  Awakening,"  makes  honor- 
able mention  of  Mr.  Gold  and  his  ministry.  Oct.  7,  1740,  Mr. 
Whitefield  preached  for  Mr.  Gold.  His  sermon  was  blessed  to  the 
conversion  of  several  souls.  The  tombstone  of  Mr.  Gold  in  the 
old  cemetery  at  Stratford  has  this  inscription : 

"  He  was  the  fourth  settled  minister  in  the  first  society  of  Stratford  of 
the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  denominations,  and  executed  the 
ministerial  office  in  said  place  for  more  than  thirty  years  which  he 
performed  with  diligence  and  an  honest  heart  to  the  end  of  his  ministry." 

Many  volumes  of  his  library,  some  with  his  name  written  by  his 
own  hand,  are  in  the  possession  of  T.  S.  Gold. 

Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  of  Cornwall,  fourth  generation,  eldest  son 
of  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  of  Stratford,  married  Sarah  Sedgwick 
Nov.  23,  1758.     They  had  children:  Thomas,  b.  Nov.  23,  1759,  d. 


*  It  was  customary  at  that  time  to  arrange  the  names  in  the  college  catalogue 
according  to  the  dignity  of  the  parents.     His  name  stood  third. 


EECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  291 

Feb.  13,  1827,  as.  68;  Hezeldah,  b.  May  7,  1761,  d.  April  6,  1766,  as. 
4  yrs.  11  mo.  and  2  d.;  Benjamin,  b.  June  25,  1762,  d.  1846,  ae. 
84;  Thomas  Ruggles,  b.  Nov.  4,  1764,  d.  Oct.  25,  1827,  Je.  63: 
Hezekiah,  2d  of  the  name,  b.  Aug.  1,  1766,  d.  Feb.  22,  1847,  se. 
81  y.  6  mos.  21  d. ;  Sarah,  wife  of  Rev.  Hezekiah,  d.  Aug.  28, 
1766,  Ee.  27;  Rev.  Hezekiah  m.  2d  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Joseph  Wakeman  of  Fairfield,  Oct.  11,  1768;  had  children:  Joseph 
Wakeman,  b.  Sept.  4,  1769;  Sarah,  b.  Aug.  15,  1771,  d.  Nov.  1, 
1776,  36.  5  years;  Mary,  b.  July  2,  1775,  d.  Nov.  12,  1776,  se.  1  y. 
Elizabeth,  2d  wife,  d.  Feb.  11,  1778,  in  the  33d  year  of  her  age. 
Rev.  Hezekiah  m.  3d  wife,  Abigail  Sherwood  of  Fairfield,  Sept. 
24,  1778.  He  died  May  30,  1790,  se.  60  years.  Mr.  Gold  gradu- 
ated at  Yale  in  1751,  settled  over  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Cornwall  in  1755,  and  continued  his  ministry  till  1787,  a  period 
of  thirty-two  years.  His  tombstone  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Corn- 
wall bears  this  testimonial: 

"  lu  whom  a  soimd  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  extensive  charity 
to  the  poor,  unshaken  fortitude  in  adversity,  were  united  with  imcommon 
discerniiio-  of  the  human  lieart,  and  shone  conspicuously  through  an 
active  and  useful  life." 

In  addition  to  his  labors  as  a  minister,  Mr.  Gold  was  a  farmer, 
and  by  the  labor  of  his  hands  added  to  his  means  of  living  in 
those  disastro^^s  times,  and  also  was  enabled  to  give  a  liberal 
education  to  two  of  his  sons.  Many  anecdotes  are  extant  showing 
that  in  physical  ability  as  well  as  in  skill  as  a  farmer  he  was  not 
surpassed  by  any  of  his  parishioners.  Laying  rail-fence  in  those 
days  was  a  common  exercise,  and  tried  the  backbone  of  the  settler. 
It  is  reported  "  that  he  could  lay  more  green  rail-fence  in  a  day 
than  any  of  his  parishioners." 

Thomas  Gold,  oldest  son  of  Rev.  Hezekiah,  graduated  at  Yale, 
1778,  settled  in  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Fittsfield,  Mass.,  acquired 
wealth,  and  held  an  honorable  position  in  his  profession.  His  res- 
idence on  East  Street,  now  owned  by  the  heirs  of  Hon.  Thomas  F. 
Plunkett,  is  the  finest  location  in  the  village  of  Fittsfield.  Here 
stood  tlie  '^  Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs,'"  the  subject  of  a  poem  by  Henry 
W.  Longfellow,  who  married  a  granddaughter  of  Mr.  Gold. 

"  Somewhat  back  from  the  village  street, 
Stands  the  old-fashioned  country-seat, 
Across  this  antique  portico, 
Tall  poplar  trees  their  shadows  throw. 


292  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

"  In  that  mansion  used  to  bo 
Free-hearted  hospitality : 
His  great  fires  up  the  chimneys  roared, 
The  strangers  feasted  at  his  board." 

Mr.  Gold  niavried  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Marsh  of  Dalton,  and  liail 
seven  children.  Thomas  Angustus,  the  oldest  sou,  was  also  a  prom- 
inent lawyer  in  I'ittsfield.  Pie  married,  and  had  a  family;  also 
William,  who  resided  in  Pittsfield. 

One  daughter  married  the  Hon.  Nathan  .\ppleton  of  Boston,  and 
was  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Longfellow. 

A  second  married  Dr.  Worfchington  Wright:  a  third,  the  lion, 
Mr.  Gardner;  while  Martha,  tlie  fourth,  remained  unmarried. 

Benjamin  Gold,  son  of  Rev.  Hezekiah,  married,  N"ov.  27,  1784, 
Eleanor,  daughter  of  Solomon  Johnson,  b.  Oct.  21,  1761,  and  liad 
children:  Sarah  Ann,  b.  March  21,  1786.  d.  March  25,  1786; 
Thomas  Ruggles,  b.  March  25,  1787  (Yale  1806),  d.  Dec.  30,  1829; 
Sarah  Ann  2d,  b.  Dec.  29,  1788,  dead;  Eleanor  Pierce,  b.  July  4, 
1790,  d.  Feb.  27,  1809;  Benjamin  Franklin,  b.  May  29,  1792,  d. 
Dec.  5,  1873;  Mary  Wakeman,  b.  March  8.  1  794;  Hezekiah,  b.  July 
8,  1796,  d.  Sept.  1800;  Abby,  b.  Jan.  28,  1798;  Flora,,  b.  Sept.  25, 
1799;  Stephen  Johnson,  b.  Aug.  3.  1801;  Catherine  Melissa,  b. 
June  4,  1803;  Harriet  Ruggles,  b.  Jime  10,  180.5,  d.  Aug.  15,  1836; 
Hezekiah  Sedgwick,  b.  June  6,  1807;  Job  Swift,  b.  Nov.  27,  1810. 
(Yale  1834),  d.  June  18,  1844. 

Dea.  Benjamin  Gold  was  a  farmer,  to  which  Ijusiness  he  added 
'that  of  a  country  merchant.  He  built  and  occupied  the  house  now 
owned  by  Robert  Baldwin.  He  was  a  deacon  in  the  S.  Cornwall 
Church  for  many  years,  was  highly  esteemed  by  his  fellow  citizens, 
being  called  to  occupy  many  positions  of  public  trust.  He  lived 
to  a  good  old  age,  and  under  every  trial  which  he  encountered,  he 
exhibited  the  character  of  a  true  Christian.  His  old  age  was 
peculiarly  happy,  and  none  who  knew  him  during  that  period  will 
fail  to  remember  his  cheerful  smile,  and  the  genial  spirit  he  mani- 
fested to  the  end  of  his  life. 

He  died  in  1846,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  wliile  his  wife  sur- 
vived till  1858,  88.  ninety-two,  when  her  descendants  numbered 
over  100.     Truly,  "her  children  arise  up  and  call  her  blessed." 

SarahA.  (ioldm.  Samuel  Hopkins  (lied.  Sept.  15,  1834),  Sept.  24. 
1805,  and  had  children:  Ann  Pierce,  b.  July  2,  1806,  dead;  Elea- 
nor Johnson,  b.  March  5,  1808,  d.  Feb.  24,  1830;  Benjamin  (jold, 
b.  March  4,  1811  ;  Sarah  Ann,  b.  March  16,  1824,  d.  Fob.  6,  1861. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AST)    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  293 

Mary  W.  Gold  m.  Daniel  B.  Brinsmade  of  Washington,  Jan.  12, 
1814,  and  had  children:  Thomas  Franklin,  b.  April  11,  1815;  Wil 
liam  r^artlett  (Yale  1840),  b.  May  10,  1819;  Abby  Irene,  b.  July 
18,  IS'iO;  Mary  Maria,  b.  Nov.  4,  1827. 

Abby  Gold  m.  Rev.  Cornelius  B.  Everest  (Williams  1811),  Oct 
9,  1817,  and  had  children,  hedied about  I8(i9;  Harriet  Gold,  b.  April 
18,  1819,  d.  April  22,  1819:  Cornehus,  b.  March  3,  1821;  Mary, 
b.  June  2,  1823;  William  Cleveland,  b.  July,  1831,  dead;  Henry 
Gold,  h.  1833:  Martha  Sherman,  b.  1837. 

Benjamin  Frankhn  Gold  m.  Maria  Pierce,  Jan.  19,  1818,  and  had 
children:  Cornelius  Chapin,  b.  Oct.  2,  1819;  Edward  Frankhn,  b. 
Sept.  29,  1823. 

Married  second  wife,  Elizabeth  H.  Doane,  March  24,  1834,  and 
had  son,  Willis  Doane,  b.  July  1,  1837. 

Flora  Gold  m.  Rev.  Herman  L.  Vaill  (h.  A.  M.  Yale,  1842), 
Jan.  22,  1823  (he  d.  1871),  and  had  children:  Catherine  Harriet 
Gold,  b.  Dec.  3,  1824,  d.  Aug.  17,  1828;  Charles  Benjamin,  b.  Sept. 
■  n.  1 820 :  Elizal;)eth  Sedgwick,  b.  Jan.  4,  1828 ;  Abby  Everest,  b.  Sept. 
14,  1829;  George  Lyman,  b.  Jan.  19.  1831,  d.  Sept.  23,  1833;  The- 
odore Frelinghuysen,  b.  March  27.  1832,  dead;  Sarah  Hopkins,  b. 
Oct.  21,  1834,  dead;  Clarissa  Champliu,  l».  Jan.  28,  1836;  Joseph 
Herman,  b.  Oct.  15,  1837;  Julia  Maria,  b.  Feb.  28,  1839;  Mary 
Woolsey,  b.  July  15,   1842,  dead. 

Catherine  M.  Gold  m.  John  B.  Lovell  (he  d.  Oct.  1851),  Dec.  25, 
1825,  had  children:  Almira,  b.  Oct.  4,  1826;  Sarah  Hopkins,  b. 
Nov.  19,  1S28,  dead;  Clarissa  Maria,  b.  March  19,  1830;  Henry' 
Row,  b.  May  30,  1831;  Lucy  Eleanor,  b.  Sept.  15,  1832;  Mary 
Wakeman,  b.  May  22,  1834,  dead;  Frances  Gold,  b.  March  4,  1836; 
Helen  Catherine,  b.  May  23,  1839;  Laura  Gurnon,  b.  Sept.  2,  1841. 
Harriet  B.  Gold  m.  Elias  Boudinott  (he  d.  June  21,  1839),  March 
28,  1826,  and  had  children:  Eleanor  Susan,  b.  May  4,  1827,  dead; 
Mary  Harriet,  b.  Oct.  5,  1828;  WilHam  Penn,  b.  Feb.  4,  1830; 
Sarah  Parkhill,  I).  Feb.  24,  1832,  d.  Aug.  29,  1845;  Elias  Cor- 
nelius, b.  Aug.  1.  1834;  Frank  F>rinsmade,  b.  May  15,  1836,  dead. 
Stephen  J.  Gold  m.  Sarah  F.  Calhoun,  Nov.  13,  1826,  and  had 
children:  John  Robinson,  b.  Aug.  20,  1827,  d.  Jan.  28,  1847; 
(ieorge  Ruggles,  b.  Oct.  9,  1830;  Stephen  Benjamin,  b.  Sept.  15, 
1834,  d.  March  20,  1836;  Martha  Ramsay,  b.  June  16,  1837;  Sam- 
uel Fay,  b.  March  20,  1840.  Married  second  wife,  Mrs.  Brown, 
1876. 

Hezekiah  Sedgwick  Gold  m.  Chloe  A.  Peet,  Sept.  6,  1836,  and 


294  HISTOEY    OP    CORNWALL. 

had  children:  Henry  Martin,  b.  July  25,  1837,  dead;  Myron  Swift, 
b.  Dec.  1,  1842;  Ethel  Edward,  b.  Feb.  9,  1847. 

Job  Swift  Gold  m.  Catherine  B.  Smith,  Oct.  28,  1835,  and  had 
children:  Lincoln  Swift,  b.  Oct.  1,  1837,  dead;  Cornelius  Boudi- 
nott,  b.  June  27,  1839;  Walter,  b.  Feb.  22,  1842,  d.  Feb.  22,  1853; 
Henry  Smith,  b.  March  31,  1844,  dead. 

Our  limits  forbid  that  we  should  follow  with  the  succeeding 
generations,  for  the  family  has  increased  like  good  seed  in  a  fertile 
soil.  I  am  indebted  for  these  records  to  Mrs.  Abby  I.  (Brinsmade) 
Gunn  and  Miss  Elizabeth  Vaill.  Rev.  Herman  L.  Vaill  had  prepared 
a  record  with  great  care  to  1854,  when  the  number  of  descendants 
exceeded  one  hundred. 

Dea.  Benjamin  Gold  was  well  represented  in  the  late  war,  as 
follows : 

Edward  F.  Gold,  of  Cornwall,  son  of  Benjamin  F.,  Capt.  Co. 
G,   2d  Conn.  Heavy  Artillery. 

Henry  Martyn  Gold,  son  of'H.  Sedgwick,  was  killed  early  in  the 
war. 

Frank  Boudinott,  son  of  Harriet  Gold,  Capt.  N.  Y.  Mounted 
Rifles,  died  in  consequence  of  a  hurt  received  by  his  horse  falling 
on  him ;  a  bold,  dashing  officer,  much  beloved  by  his  men. 

Capt.  Putnam,  supposed  to  be  of  Gen.  Putnam  stock,  married 
Helen  Lovell,  daughter  of  Catharine. 

Theodore  Frelinghuysen  Vaill,  Adj.  2d  Conn.  H.  Art.,  wounded 
near  the  close  of  the  war;  died  recently  of  typhoid  fever;  author 
of  the  History  of  the  Regiment  and  editor  of  the  Winsted  Herald. 

Joseph  H.  Vaill,  his  brother,  present  editor  of  the  Herald,  was 
in  the  8th  Conn. 

Thomas  R.  Gold*  son  of  Rev.  Hezekiah  of  Cornwall,  m.  Sarah 
Sill,  daughter  of  Dr.  Ehsha  Sill,  she  died  Jiily  13,  1852. 

Children:  Hezekiah,  b.  Sept.  17,  1788,  drowned  June,  1792;  Har- 
riett L.,  b.  July  30,  1790,  m.  Rev.  John  Frost,  d.  Aug.  5,  1873; 
Mary  S.,  b.  June  9,  1794,  m.  John  Peck,  d.  April  4,  1877;  Theodore 
S.,  b.  July  23,  1796,  died  at  Utica;  Sarah  P.,  b.  March  10,  1801,  m. 
William  B.  Walton,  d.  1866:  Charlotte  Ruggles,  b.  July  7,  1806, 
d.  Oct.  18,  1808;  Thomas,  Jr.,  b.  March  11,  1809,  d.  Oct.  8,  1846, 
33.  thirty-seven. 

Hon.  Thomas  R.  Gold  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  the  class  of 
1786.     When  the  Whitestown  country  was  first  being  settled  Mr. 

*The  promise  (never  fulfilled)  of  a  library  from  Thomas  Ruggles  for  his  name 

was  the  reason  for  two  brothers  of  the  name  of  Thomas. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  295 

Gold  established  himself  there,  about  1792,  in  the  profession  of 
the  law.  He  soon  acquired  a  high  position,  and  for  a  time  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  bar  in  Central  New  York.  In  1798  he  was 
elected  to  the  Senate  of  his  adopted  State.  For  about  twenty- 
years  he  represented  New  York  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  Although  important  public  business  engrossed  a  large 
share  of  his  time,  yet  Mr.  Gold  contributed  largely  to  the  "  North 
American  Review  "  and  other  leading  literary  publications  of  the 
day.  In  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  became  a  humble  and  earnest 
Christian,  and  died  in  the  faith  of  Jesus,* at  the  age  of  sixty-three 
years. 

The  record  of  this  branch  reads  thus: 

Hon.  Thomas  R.  Gold,  "  Under  the  smiles'  of  Providence,  was 
greatly  blessed." 

Of  his  wife,  Sarah  Sill.  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the 
Lord." 

Harriet  L.,  "  Widow  of  Rev.  John  Frost,  died  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three  years,  after  a  long  pilgrimage,  refined' and  matured 
for  heaven,  loved  and  revered  by  kindred  and  friends,  two  sur- 
viving children,  and  grandchildren  to  the  third  generation." 

Theodore  S.  left  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Andrew  Dexter  of  New 
York. 

Thomas,  Jr.,  had  one  son,  Thomas  Raymond  Gold  of  Chicago. 

Hezekiah  Gold,  of  Cornwall,  fourth  son  of  Rev.  Hezekiah,  and 
of  the  fifth  generation,  m.  Rachel  Wadsworth,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Wadsworth.  Oct.  24,  1788. 

Children:  Sally  Maria,  b.  Oct.  19,  1789,  m.  Edward  Rogers, 
March  4,  1810;  Samuel  Wadsworth,  b.  Sept.  27,  1794,  m.  Phebe 
Cleveland,  daughter  of  Erastus  and  Rebecca  (Berry)  Cleveland, 
Madison,  N.  Y.,  April  17,  1817;  Julia  R.,  b.  May  31.  1800, 
m.  Daniel  Cleveland,  Nov.  13,  1821;  Lorain  Sedgwick,  b.  May 
26,  1804,  m.  Wm.  S.  Stevens,  Jan.  1,  1828. 

Capt.  Hezekiah  Gold  ^^as  a  farmer  on  Cream  Hill;  a  part  of 
his  farm  he  inherited  by  his  wife,  the  remainder  he  purchased  of 
Joseph  Wadsworth.  He  was  an  active,  energetic,  public- spirited 
man,  never  backward  in  any  good  work.  He  was  a  good  farmer 
for  his  day,  and  if  we  can  farm  as  well  for  the  times  as  he  did  we 
shall  be  satisfied. 

Hon.  Edward  Rogers  and  Sally  Maria,  oldest  daughter  of  Hez- 
ekiah Gold,  had  children:  Hezekiah  Gold,  b.  Feb;  22,  1811;  Sarah 
Maria,  b.  July  30,  1820;  Edward,  b.  July  20,  1826,  d.  Dec.  26,  1846. 


296  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Hon.  Edward  Rogers  died  May  29,  1857  ;  his  wife,  Sally  Maria, 
died  Jan.  28,  1847.     (For  further  account,  see  Rogers  family.) 

Hezekiah  Gold  Rogers  graduated  at  Yale  in  1831 ;  practiced  law 
at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  was  charge  de  affaires  to  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia, 
and  held  various  positions  of  public  trust.  Is  still  living  as  a  law- 
yer in  Pennsylvania. 

Samuel  Wadsworth  Gold,  son  of  Hezekiah  of  the  sixth  genera- 
tion, and  Phebe  Cleveland,  had  children:  Theodore  Sedg-wick,  b. 
March  2,  1818;  Mary  Elizabeth,  b.  Nov.  21,  1820,  d.  .\pril  6.  1821; 
Julia  Lorain,  b.  June  24,  1824,  d.  Aug.  12,  1875. 

Dr.  Samuel  W.  Gold  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1814: 
studied  medicine  at  Pittsfield  and  at  Yale,  where  in  1834  he  re- 
ceived the  honorary  degree  of  M.  D.  He  was  licensed  to  practice 
medicine  in  1817,  and  began  his  professional  life  at  Madison,  N.  Y. 
Prom  there  he  returned  to  Cornwall  for  five  years,  then  went  to 
Goshen  to  fill  out  twenty-five  years  of  medical  practice.  He  re- 
turned to  Cornwall  in  1842,  and  in  1845,  with  his  son,  T.  S.  Gold, 
established  the  Cream  Hill  Agricultural  School,  which  was  contin- 
ued successfully  for  twenty-four  years.  He  was  State  .senator  in 
1847  and  1859,  and  presidential  elector  in  1857. 

Dr.  Gold  was  a  thorough  student  of  medicine,  and  a  successful 
practitioner.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  tu  the  medical  jour- 
nals and  other  publications  of  the  day.  As  an  educator  he  applied 
to  good  advantage  his  professional  knowledge  and  ripe  experience ; 
while  as  a  farmer  he  early  realized  the  necessity  of  clearing  oui' 
fields  of  rocks  for  successful  agriculture,  and  was  the  first  to  at- 
tack the  great  boulders,  in  1823,  that  infested  our  farms.  The 
horse-rake  and  the  mowing-machine  were  first  used  in  town  on 
his  Cream  Hill  farm,  an  impossibility  in  the  original  condition  of 
the  fields.*  He  was  persistent  in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  social, 
moral,  and  educational  interests  of  the  community,  and  lived  to 
see  many  of -his  favorite  projects  brought  to  maturity. 

Dr.  Samuel  W.  Gold  died  Sept.  10,  1869,  aged  74  yeai's,  11 
months.     His  wife.  Phebe  C,  died  Nov.  29,  1869,  aged  73. 

Tlieodore  Sedgwick  Gold,  seventh  generation,  son  of  Samuel  W., 
married  Caroline  E.  Lockwood,  daughter  of  Charles  and  Eunice 
Lockwood,  Sept.  13,  1843.  Children — Eleanor  Douglas,  b.  Sept. 
11,  1844,  m.  Chas.  H.  Hubbard  of  Sandusky,  ().,  Sept.  30,   1868; 


*We  bought  a  revolving  horse-rske  from  Amenia,  Dutchess  Co.,  in  1842, 
and  au  Allen  luowiugmachine  iu  1857.  We  had  tried  a  Ketchuin  uusuccess- 
f  iiUy  the  previous  year. 


RECORDS    OP    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  297 

Mary  Elizabeth,  b.  Feb.  2,  1847,  d,  July  11,  1857,  aged  10  years, 
5mo.,  9d;  Emily  Sedgwick,  b.  Jan.  31,  1849,  d.  April  2.  1858, 
aged  9  years  2m  ;  Rebecca  Cleveland,  b.  July  29,  1851,  m.  Sam- 
uel M.  Cornell  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  8,  1876;  Caroline  Simons, 
b.  Oct.  3,  1855. 

Mrs.  Caroline  E.  Gold,  wife  of  T.  S.  Gold,  died  April  25,  1857, 
aged  32.  Theodore  vS.  Gold  married  second  wife,  Mrs.  Emma 
(Tracy)  Baldwin,  daughter  of  A.  W.  Tracy  of  Rockville,  Ct.,  April 
4,  1859.  Children— Alice  Tracy,  b.  Jan.  14,  1860;  Martha  Wads- 
worth,  b.  July  20,  1861;  Charles  Lockwood,  b.  April  14,  1863; 
James  Douglas,  b.  Nov.  5,  1866. 

T.  S.  Gold  graduated  at  Yale,  1838,  studied  at  Yale  one  year 
after  graduation;  taught  in  Goshen  and  Waterbury  academies  three 
winters;  came  to  Cornwall  in  1842,  as  a  farmer;  established  agri- 
cultural school  with  his  father,  in  1845,  and  taught  for  twenty-four 
years;  was  chosen  Secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  at 
its  organization  in  1866,  which  office  he  still  holds. 

Charles  H.  Hubbard  and  Eleanor  D.,  eighth  generation,  daugh- 
ter of  T.  S.  Gold,  had  children  (being  the  ninth  generation) — RoUin 
Barnard,  b.  July  22,  1869;  Caroline  Lockwood,  b.  Oct.  14,  1871; 
Eleanor  Gold,  b.  Sept.  20,  1873,  d.  Aug.  11,  1874;  Charles  Mills, 
b.  Oct.  24,  1875. 

Frederic  Lyman  married  Julia  L.,  daughter  of  Samuel  W.  Gold, 
and  had  children — Samuel;  Anna  E.,  b.  Sept.  13,  1848;  Frederic 
Gold,  b.  Aug.  27,  1850;  Sarah  Mead,  b.  Oct.  21,  1852;  Theodore, 
Edward  C.     Samuel,  Theodore,  and  Edward  died  in  early  infancy. 

Daniel  Cleveland  and  Julia  R.,  second  daughter  of  Hezekiah 
Gold,  had  children — James  Douglas,  b.  1822,  m.  Charlotte  Bing- 
ham; Julia  Antoinette,  b.  Jan.  25,  1830,  m.,  Oct.  1,  1851,  Charles 
G.  Aiken;  Mary  S.,  b.  1832,  d.  May  6,  1877;  Thomas  Gold,  b. 
May,  1838,  m,  Harriet  Wiley,  and  d.  in  1871.  JuHa  R.  Cleve- 
land d.  Feb.  13,  1852,  and  her  husband,  Daniel  Cleveland,  a  few 
years  after. 

James  Douglas  Cleveland  and  Charlotte  Bingham  had  children — 
Emma  Douglas,  b.  Oct.  8,  1852;  Walter  Gold,  b.  Oct.  1,  1857; 
William  Bingham,  b.  May  20,  1863.  James  Douglas  Cleveland,  a 
lawyer  in  Cleveland,  0.  Has  held,  and  now  holds,  many  public 
and  private  trusts,  as  an  honest  lawyer,  able  and  willing  to  defend 
the  right. 

Thomas  Gold  Cleveland  and  Harriet  W.  had  children — Grace, 
b.  Nov.  26,  1855,  d.  Feb.  13,  1856;  Katharine,  b.  April  28,  1857, 
38 


298  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

d.  Oct.  11,  1857;  Douglas,  b.  Jan.  11,  1859;  Julia  Gold,  b.  Dec. 
22,  1860;  Hattie,  b.  June  12,  1863;  Alfred,  b.  May  20,  1866; 
George  Wiley,  b.  Dec.  24,  1864;  Alice,  b.  Oct.  27,  1868;  Darwin 
Burton,  April  25,  1870.  Dr.  Thomas  G.  Cleveland  was  a  physician 
in  Cleveland,  0.  He  did  good  service  as  a  surgeon  in  the  war  of  the 
rebellion,  and  died  in  1871,  of  exposure  and  fatigue  in  army  ser- 
vice. 

Charles  G.  Aiken  and  Julia  Antoinette  Cleveland  had  children — 
Julia  Cleveland,  b.  Oct.  22,  1852,  d.  Sept.  12,  1854;  Florence  Car- 
nahan,  b.  Aug.  8,  1855;  Henrietta,  b.  July  26,  1857,  d.  Aug.  24, 
1858;  Wilhe  Cleveland,  b.  June  11,  1859,  Charles  S.,  b.  Feb.  6, 
1863. 

William  S.  Stevens  and  Laura  Sedgwick,  third  daughter  of 
Hezekiah  Gold,  had  children— George  G.,  b.  Feb.  16,  1829,  d. 
about  22  years  old;  Emeline  Cordelia,  b.  Aug.  20,  1832;  Mary 
Lorain,  b.  Nov.  11,  1834,  m.  Rev.  Kinney,  and  has  chil- 
dren— Edward,  d.  about  20  years  old,  he  was  a  good  soldier  in  the 
war  against  the  rebellion,  and  died  in  Saratoga  from  disease  con- 
tracted in  the  service.  William  S.  Stevens  d.  Nov.  30,  1876.  His 
wife  Laura  d.  Nov.  12,  1867. 

Joseph  Wakeman,  youngest  son  of  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold,  settled 
as  a  farmer  at  Pompey,  N.  Y.,  accumulated  a  handsome  property, 
and  died  in  early  life.  He  had  a  daughter,  who  married  Andrew 
Dickson,  a  merchant  in  New  York.  His  son  Andrew  is  a  mer- 
chant in  Chicago. 

The  Everest  Family. 
Rev.  Cornelius  B.  Everest  was  a  son  of  Daniel  Everest,  who 
lived  south  of  the  village  of  Cornwall.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
Williams  College,  a  faithful  and  acceptable  preacher.  He  married 
Abigail,  daughter  of  Deacon  Benjamin  Gold,  and  had  several  chil- 
dren. He  was  settled  over  a  Congregational  church  in  Hartford 
county;  also  at  Norwich,  Conn. 

The  Harrison  Family. 

The  name  of  Harrison  has  been  associated  with  Cornwall  from 
the  earliest  period  of  its  history.  Each  generation  has  well  sus- 
tained its  part  in  the  history  of  the  town,  and  they  have  spread 
laterally  into  many  families,  conspicuous  among  the  present  inhab- 
itants, while  their  descendants  are  found  in  many  of  the  States — 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  299 

even  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  Those  bearing  the  name  have 
been,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  freeholders  and  heads  of  families, 
thus  becoming  closely  identified  with  the  prosperity  of  the  com- 
munity where  they  have  resided,  building  up  happy  homes,  the 
secure  foundation  of  the  nation.  They  have  been  law-abiding  citi- 
zens, and  such  has  been  their  regard  for  law  and  the  rights  of 
others,  that  it  is  doubted  if  there  has  ever  been  one  of  the  name  in 
this  town,  or  their  descendants,  indicted  for  crime.  All  of  those 
now  residing  in  Cornwall  of  the  name  (except  Myron  Harrison,  in 
the  Hollow,  who  is  grandson  of  Daniel,  2d,)  are  descended  from 
Noah  Harrison,  who  came  to  Cornwall  from  Branford  in  1762,  in 
company  with  Noah  and  Edward  Rogers.  His  first  purchase  of 
land  was  a  fifty-acre  lot,  upon  which  he  built  the  house  now  stand- 
ing near  the  present  residence  of  Luman  Harrison,  where  he  lived 
and  died  in  1823,  aged  86.  He  was  a  man  of  great  resolution, 
and  a  great  teamster  with  oxen.  It  is  said  that  "the  crack  of  his 
whip  could  be  heard  at  a  mile's  distance."  During  the  Revolution 
a  troop  of  dragoon  horses  were  wintered  on  his  farm,  and  from  the 
man  in  charge  Mr.  Harrison  and  others  learned  to  braid  those 
whip-lashes  for  which  the  neighborhood  was  so  famous. 

Noah  Harrison  married  Hannah,  sister  of  Noah  and  Edward 
Rogers,  and  had  children— Edmund,  b.  May  1,  1868;  Heman  and 
Luman;  and  by  a  second  marriage,  Hannah  m.  Blias  Hart,  and 
Amanda  m.  Oliver  Burnham  Hart. 

Edmund  Harrison,  as  a  pupil  of  Oliver  Burnham,  developed  a 
taste  for  mathematical  studies,  and  became  a  farmer  of  more  than 
ordinary  intelhgence.  He  ruled  his  family  well,  both  by  precept 
and  example;  was  temperate  in  all  things;  a  strict  observer  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  of  unblemished  moral  character,  and  in  public  and 
private  hfe  bore  the  title  of  an  honest  man.  One  of  his  maxims 
was,  "  What  is  worthy  of  thy  remark,  remember,  and  forget  the 
rest."  His  grandson,  Geo.  C.  Harrison,  enjoyed  much  of  the 
society  of  his  grandfather  in  his  later  years,  and  gives  many  rem- 
iniscences of  him.  In  his  87th  year  he  received  injuries  from  a 
fall  which  rendered  him  comparatively  helpless  for  the  remaining 
eleven  years;  yet  he  was  always  cheerful,  and  by  reading  and  con- 
versation kept  well  informed  in  the  knowledge  of  passing  events, 
even  to  the  close  of  life,  Jan.  4,  1867,  aged  98  years,  8  months, 
and  4  days.  His  memory  held  out  to  the  last,  and  his  apt  quota- 
tions of  poetry,  from  book,  and  of  local  origin,  enlivened  his  con- 
versation.    Addressing  thus  a  young  pedagogue,  he  quoted: 


300  HISTORY    OF    UOENWALL. 

"  The  schoolmaster  rages 
For  want  of  more  wages, 

And  hurries  his  scholars  along. 
He  teaches  them  morals, 
And  whips  all  that  quarrel. 

And  silence  all  day  is  his  soug." 

Edmund  Harrison  married  Kuth  Hopkins  of  Warren,  and  had 
children — Rufus,  Noah,  Myron,  Chandler,  Lucretia,  John  R.,  Han- 
nah, and  WiUiam  H.  Of  his  sons,  Rufus  went  to  Genesee 
County,  Mich.,  where  by  industry  he  secured  for  himself  a  home, 
with  his  own  hands  clearing  away  the  primeval  forest.  He  was  a 
man  of  powerful  frame,  tall  and  lithe  as  his  Indian  neighbors,  of 
bold  and  fearless  character,  and  though  of  a  kind  and  generous 
disposition,  yet  when  aroused  to  vindicate  his  rights,  according  to 
the  then  law  of  that  land,  woe  to  the  white  man  or  Indian  that 
came  within  reach  of  his  arm. 

Noah  went  to  Columbia  County,  N.  Y.  Was  a  man  of  decided 
character  and  influence;  had  a  large  and  prosperous  family,  one 
son,  John  J.,  being  a  graduate  of  Wesleyan  University  and  of 
the  Albany  Law  School,  and  is  now  an  Episcopal  clergyman  on 
Long  Island. 

Myron  Harrison,  third  son  of  Edmund,  was  born  Sept.  25,  1800; 
he  was  apprenticed  as  a  clerk  to  Mr.  Allen,  then  a  merchant  at  Corn- 
wall Center,  where  he  remained  some  two  or  three  years,  until 
Allen  failed;  spent  some  two  or  three  years  in  Goshen;  then 
entered  the  mercantile  business  at  Cornwall  Bridge  in  1826,  in 
partnership  with  Peter  Bierce.  He  married  Charlotte  E.  Calhoun, 
daughter  of  Doct.  John  Calhoun,  June  2,  1830.  He  died  Sept. 
19,  1872.  He  left  a  family  of  three  children:  Ralph  C,  b.  Oct. 
22,  1831;  George  L.,  b.  May  5,  1835;  Sarah  C,  b.  Oct.  31,  1840; 
Ralph,  m.  Juliet  Waite  of  Chicago,  is  a  graduate  of  Wesleyan 
University,  and  of  the  Albany  Law  School,  and  is  a  lawyer  in  San 
Francisco,  Cal.  (he  has  two  or  three  sons);  Geo.  L.  is  married,  is 
General  Pass.  Agent  of  Chicago  &  Northwestern  R.  R.  at  Boston, 
Mass. ;  Sarah  C.  m.  V.  C.  Beers  of  Cornwall.  Myron  Harrison 
was  selectman  of  the  town  seven  years;  twice  a  member  of  the 
Legislature;  United  States  Assistant  Assessor  eight  years;  during 
his  life  he  was  engaged  in  the  settlement  of  eighty-six  estates. 

Chandler,  who  was  considered  the  flower  of  the  family,  died  at 
the  early  age  of  twenty-six,  from  consumption  contracted  in  travel 
at  the  South;  Lucretia  m.  John  Bradford. 

John  R.  Harrison  m.  Eleanor  Bradford  iu   1833,  and  had  cliil- 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  301 

dren:  George  C,  .b.  May  19,  1840;  Catharine,  b.  Aug.  1,  1843; 
Wilbur  Fitch,  b.  Aug.  22,  1845,  and  John  B.,  Nov.  4,  1848.' 

In  1833,  with  John  Bradford  as  partner,  Mr.  Harrison  engaged 
in  mercantile  business  at  the  Center,  and  was  postmaster  there  till 
the  removal  of  the  office  to  Cornwall  Plain,  about  1849.  In  1833, 
there  were  only  two  other  offices  in  town,  one  at  Cornwall  Bridge, 
and  one  in  the  Hollow,  kept  by  John  E.  Sedgwick,  in  the  house 
lately  owned  by  Erastus  Merwin.  His  business  qualifications  and 
true  worth  were  soon,  brought  into  use  in  offices  of  trust  and 
responsibility,  and  his  life  became  closely  identified  with  the  record 
a^  the  town;  with  such  faithfulness  were  these  duties  perforaied, 
that  almost  continuously,  from  1835  to  1877,  a  period  of  forty-two 
years,  his  townsmen  called  him  to  public  duty.  His  record  is 
three  years  in  General  Assembly,  about  thirty  years  Justice  of  the 
Peace;  Selectman  for  seventeen  years;  Treasurer  of  Town  Deposit 
and  School  Society's  Funds,  fifteen  years;  Judge  of  Probate,  six 
years.  Of  dignified,  unassuming  manners,  a  safe  counselor,  and 
true  friend,  an  example  of  temperance  and  sobriety,  of  an  earnest 
Christian  spirit,  ready  to  aid  with  his  name  and  influence  those  in 
straitened  circumstances,  Mr.  Harrison  still  remains  with  us,  though 
having  passed  the  allotted  "three-score  years  and  ten;"  and  of  such 
we  say,  Sero  redeas  in  Coelum. 

Of  his  children,  George  C.  m.  Mrs.  Rebecca  (Todd)  White, 
Feb.  21,  1862,  and  has  children:  Cynthia  R.,  Eleanor  H.,  George 
E.,  Charlotte  A.,  Katie  J.,  Ruth,  Gertrude,  Anna,  and  Mary  M. 

George  C.  Harrison,  as  Town  Clerk  and  Treasurer,  and  as  Judge 
of  Probate,  with  his  young  family,  promises  to  rival  his  ancestors 
as  a  citizen  worthy  of  the  trust  and  confidence  of  his  fellows. 

Catharine,  daughter  of  John  R.  Harrison,  m.  Wm.  H.  H.  Hew- 
itt, and  resides  in  New  Haven;  has  children,  Mary  Cornwall,  and 
Harrison. 

Wilbur  P.,  second  son,  m.  Harriet,  d.  of  Luther  Miner;  is  a 
farmer  residing  in  South  Cornwall.  John  B.  removed  to  Ohio, 
married  there,  and  has  one  daughter. 

Hannah  Harrison,  second  daughter  of  Edmund,  remained  unmar- 
ried, and  still  occupies  the  homestead  of  her  father  in  the  Hollow. 

Wilham  H.  Harrison,  youngest  son,  m.  Mary,  d.  of  Benjamin 
Catlin,  and  has  children:  Edward  R.,  b.  Feb.,  1841,  living  in  Chi- 
cago; Nancy;  Martha,  m.  Frederic  Harrison,  son  of  Heman,  and 
gone  to  Iowa  ;  Mary;  Charles,  a  farmer  at  home;  Cornelia  and 
Susan.     Wni.  H.  Harrison  is  a  thrifty  farmer,  owning  a  good  farm 


302  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

near  the  village  of  Cornwall,  has  held  many  offices  of  trust,  and 
enjoys  the  respect  of  his  townsmen,  and  the  well-earned  rewards 
of  his  industry. 

Heman,  second  son  of  Noah  Harrison,  remained  on  the  old  home- 
stead, and  had  sons,  Heman  and  Luman,  who  are  farmers,  reside 
in  the  Hollow,  and  have  promising  young  famihes;  and  daughters, 
Lucy,  m.  Coddington  Crandall,  and  Mary,  m.  Chester  Wickwire. 

Lnman,  third  son,  removed  to  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.,  ^d  has  left 
numerous  descendants  in  that  vicinity. 

Daniel  Harrison,  brother  of  Noah,  was  born  about  the  year 
1730,  and  came  to  Cornwall  from  Branford,  Conn.;  was  son  oi 
Daniel  Harrison  of  that  place,  m.  Miss  Hannah  Barker,  lived  on 
the  hill  west  of  Cornwall  Hollow,  and  died  at  an  advanced  age, — 
eighty-four  years.  This  family  consisted  of  four  sons  and  two 
daughters:  Dainiel2d,  Joel,  Joseph,  Luther,  Abigail,  and  Thankful. 

Daniel  2d,  m.  Miss  Hannah  Page  for  his  first  wife,  and  Sarah 
Parker  for  his  second;  his  children  were:  Eber,  Sylvester,  Han- 
nah, Reuben,  and  Joseph. 

Joel,  second  son,  m.  Hannah  Beardsley,  sister  to  Stiles,  and  aunt 
to  Julius  Beardsley;  removed  to  Amenia,  Dutchess  Co.,  N.  Y., 
where  he  died,  leaving  one  son  and  one  daughter,  who  removed  to 
Ohio. 

Joseph,  third  son,  enlisted  in  the  Revolutionary  Army,  was  taken 
prisoner  to  New  York,  finally  exchanged,  but  from  sufferings  and 
fatigue  of  imprisonment,  died  before  he  reached  home. 

Luther,  fourth  son,  m.  Rachel  Johnson,  whose  grandfather, 
Douglas,  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors;  his  family  were: 
Douglas,  Barker,  Albert,  Wm.  E.,  Abby,  and  some  who  died 
young.  Abigail,  daughter  of  Daniel  1st,  m.  Yv^m.  Cranmer,  and 
removed  to  the  West. 

Thankful,  daughter  of  Daniel  1st,  m.  John  Cornwall,  a  minis- 
ter of  the  Presbyterian  denomination. 

Douglas,  son  of  Luther,  died  young. 

Barker,  second  son,  m.  Mary  Scoville  of  Cornwall,  removed  to 
Michigan. 

Albert  and  Abby  removed  unmarried  to  the  West. 

Wm.  B.,  fourth  son,  remained  in  Cornwall,  m.  Fanny  Winans, 
who  died  1861;  he  remarried  and  removed  West. 
Children,  of  Daniel  Harrison,   2d. 

Eber  m.  Laura  Hart,  sister  of  Elias  and  0.  B.  Hart— lived  to  an 
advanced  age— he  had  two  sons.  Hart  and  Myron  2d,  who  is  still 


RECORDS  OF  EARLY  AND  PRESENT  RECORDS.  303 

living,  1877,  on  tlie  homestead  of  his  father;  he  leaves  no  children. 

Sylvester  died  young;  Hannah  m.  Mr.  Hitchcock,  and  removed  to 

New  York;  Reuben  m.  and  removed  to  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  where  he 

died;  Joseph  m.  Eleanor  Bradford,   sister  of  James  Bradford — 

removed  to  the  West.     His  son,  Bradford  Harrison,  is  now  living 

at  Cuyahoga  Falls,  and  a  grandson  at  Freedom,  Ohio,  with  a  son 

and  daughter  (Nellie)  at  home,  and  one  son,  Daniel,  who  is  said 

to  be  a  true  type  of  Daniel  2d,  living  in  New  York  State.     He 

enlisted  in  the  War  of    1812,  and  died  shortly  after  returning 

home. 

The  Bradford  Family. 

John  Bradford  came  to  Cornwall  from  Montville,  New  London 
County,  about  1772;  he  bought  and  settled  on  the  farm  now  occu- 
pied by  Fowler  Bradford,  died  in  1817,  about  eighty  years  of  age; 
married  Mary  Fitch  of  Norwich,  Conn. ;  his  children  were,  James 
Fitch,   Rachel,  Mary,  Abigail,  Rebecca,  and   Eleanor. 

James  F.  Bradford  was  born  May  1,  1767;  was  appren- 
ticed at  the  age  of  fourteen  to  a  tanner  and  shoe-maker  in 
Montville,  Conn,,  and  served  seven  years  and  came  to  Cornwall 
soon  after  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship.  He  married 
Mary  Merwin  of  Goshen;  built  the  house  where  Mrs.  Fox  now 
lives  in  Cornwall  Hollow,  and  lived  there  the  first  part  of  his 
married  life.  After  the  death  of  his  parents  he  owned  and 
occupied  where  Fowler  Bradford  now  Kves  until  about  1825, 
when  he  gave  to  his  sons  John  and  Fowler  that  place,  and 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  where  Mrs.  Fox  lives.  He  was 
very  handy  with  all  mechanical  tools,  in  erection  of  buildings, 
making  tubs,  pails,  etc.  His  children  were:  Laura,  m. 
Lyman  Fox  of  Cornwall,  now  living;  Mary,  m.  Sherwood  Millard 
of  Canaan,  now  living;  Emeline,  m.  Wm.  Marsh,  M.  D.,  one  of 
whose  sons,  C.  W.  Marsh,  is  now  living  at  Cornwall  Plain,  another 
son  Wilham  in  Memphis,  Miss.;  John,  m.  Lucretia  Harrison, 
first  wife,  second,  Maria  Blinn  of  Sharon,  third,  Cornelia  Beebe  of 
Canaan;  his  widow  and  daughter  are  now  living  at  Cornwall; 
Fowler,  m.  Charlotte  Belden  of  Canaan;  has  three  sons  and  one 
daughter  living;  two  sons,  John  and  James,  are  at  home;  Henry  is 
in  Plymouth,  the  daughter  is  married  and  Kves  in  Canaan  ;  James 
Fitch,  Jr.,  m.  Catherine  Catlin  of  Bethlehem  ;  Charlotte  and  Sarah 
m.  William  Regg  of  New  Marlboro,  Mass.;  Eleanor  m,  John  R. 
Harrison  of  Cornwall;  Uri  m.  Charlotte  Hurlbut,  d.  in  Egremont, 
Mass.,   where  his  family  remain;  Benjamin  m.   Rebecca  Jackson. 


304  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Rachel,  dau.  of  John  Bradford,  m.  Shubael  Lowry  of  Canaan. 
(She  was  mother  of  Mr^  David  Smith  of  Sharon.) 

Abigail  m.  David  Smith  of  Goshen,  commonly  called  "Quaker 
Smith,"  whose  son,  David  F.  Smith,  now  resides  in  Sharon;  Mary 
m.  Daniel  Sterhng  of  Cornwall;  they  settled  in  Jefferson  County, 
N.  Y. ;  Eebecca  m.  Heman  Harrison  of  Cornwall,  whose  sons,  Heman 
and  Luman,  now  reside  in  the  Hollow.  His  daughter  Lucy  m.  C. 
B.  Crandall,  and  Mary  m.  Chester  "Wickwire.  Eleanor  m.  Joseph 
Harrison,  son  of  Daniel  2d,  and  settled  in  Madison  County,  N.  Y. 

The  Crandall  Family. 
Coddington  B.  Crandall  came  from  Goshen  about  1826,  and  mar- 
ried Lucy  Harrison.  Had  four  sons,  three  of  whom  lived  to  man- 
hood,— John,  Henry,  and  George.  The  two  last  have  represented 
the  town  in  the  legislature,  and  held  other  ofBces.  George  is  a 
farmer,  residing  near  West  Cornwall  on  the  farm  formerly  owned 
by  Amos  Johnson.  The  citizens  of  Cornwall  have  to  thank  Mr. 
Crandall  for  much  good  work  upon  our  roads. 

The  Chandler  Family. 

Joseph  Chandler  came  from  Danbury,  Mass.,  in  1748,  and  settled 
where  Agur  Judson  lived  in  1845.  He  lived  to  about  ninety  years. 
He  had  sons:  Benjamin,  who  was  a  blacksmith,  went  to  Fairmouth, 
Vt.,  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Bennington.  Abner  in  1774 
sold  his  place  to  Jethro  Bonney  and  went  to  Piermont,  N.  H. 
Jonathan  lived  where  Jabez  Baldwin  lived,  and  went  to  Piermont, 
N.  H.  Simeon,  after  1754,  lived  at  New  Milford;  a  daughter 
married  Ephraim  Patterson,  brother  of  Matthew. 

The  Kellogg  Family. 
Judah  Kellogg  from  Colchester  graduated  at  Yale  1763,  taught 
school  in  Stratford,  where  he  married  Mary  Tomlinson,  an  aunt  of 
the  late  Governor  Tomlinson,  came  to  Cornwall  in  1774,  and 
bought  160  acres  of  land  with  a  small  house,  of  Stephen  Royce, 
Here  he  lived  till  his  death,  in  1820,  aged  eighty.  He  represented 
the  town  in  the  General  Assembly  the  first  four  years  of  his  resi- 
dence here,  and  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  a  long  period.  As 
deacon  of  the  church  he  is  referred  to  elsewhere.  He  was  chosen 
clerk  in  1776,  and  continued  to  hold  the  ofiBce  till  1810,  a  period 
of  thirty-six  years.  His  skill  and  accuracy  in  penmanship  was 
complete,  while  in  accuracy  in  punctuation  he  was  surpassed  by 
none.     "WilUam,  his  oldest  son,  succeeded  him  as  clerk,  and  at  his 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  305 

death  Frederick,  the  fourth  son  of  William,  was  chosen  to  the 
office,  which  he  held  till  1845.  the  clerkship  having  been  in  the 
family  sixty -nine  years. 

William  Kellogg  had  four  sons,  two  of  whom  died  young. 
Philo,  the  eldest  son,  was  a  farmer,  and  owned  and  occupied  the 
site  of  his  grandfather  Judah.  He  was  a  partner  in  the  firm  of 
P.  &  F.  Kellogg  for  twenty  years.  He  represented  the  Seventeenth 
District  in  the  Senate  of  Connecticut  two  terms,  and  was  a  represent- 
ative from  Cornwall  two  years.  He  was  appointed  Judge  of  Probate 
at  the  organization  of  the  district,  and  held  the  office  two  years. 
He  died  in  1862,  aged  sixty -eight. 

Frederick  Kellogg,  the  youngest  son  of  William,  was  a  mer- 
chant; in  1829  he  succeeded  his  father  as  Town  Clerk,  which  office 
he  held  uninterruptedly  for  sixteen  years,  and  was  four  times 
elected  to  the  same  office  at  various  times  afterwards;  in  1852  he 
was  appointed  Judge  of  Probate  for  the  District  of  Cornwall,  which 
office  he  held,  with  the  exception  of  two  years,  till  constitutionally 
disquahfied.  In  1841  he  was  appointed  County  Commissioner, 
which  office  he  held  for  three  years.  From  1830  to  1841  he 
represented  the  town  of  Cornwall  in  the  Legislature  four  years. 
Is  still  living,  enjoying  his  faculties  of  both  mind  and  body,  and 
the  fruits  of  his  industry  and  frugality. 

John  Kellogg,  the  second  son  ©f  Judah,  resided  in  Cornwall,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  He  raised  a  family  of  ten 
children,  seven  sons  and  three  daughters;  the  entire  family 
emigrated  to  the  Western  States,  viz.,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and 
Kansas,  and  have  become  prosperous  citizens. 

Lucius,  the  third  son  of  Judah,  settled  at  Oyster  Bay,  Long 
Island,  where  he  became  an  eminent  physician. 

The  Hart  Family. 

The  name  of  Hart  seems  to  be  common  to  several  nationahties. 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  have  their  Harts.  The  origin  of  the 
name  is  not  made  known.  Perhaps  from  David's  beautiful  ani- 
mal that  panted  for  the  water-brooks.  The  variety  in  speUing  is 
not  great.  The  prevailing  is  simply  Hart — occasionally  Hartt, 
Harte,  Heart,  Hearte.  Tradition  has  it  that  three  brothers  came 
to  this  country  early  in  its  settlement,  and  the  name  is  prominently 
connected  with  the  settlement  of  various  places. 

"  Honest  John  Hart,"  as  he  was  called,  was  a  son  of  one  of  the 
39 


306  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

brothers,  and  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  being 
a  member  of  the  General  Congress  from  New  Jersey. 

The  patriotism  of  the  family  is  proved  by  the  great  number 
found  in  the  ranks  of  the  armies  of  1775,  1812,  and  1861,  either 
as  officers  or  privates.  There  is  a  record  of  nearly  three  hundred 
names  of  Harts  as  soldiers,  and  the  list  is  far  from  complete. 

The  mother  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  Hart  Benton  of  Missouri,  was  a 
Hart,  and  the  veteran  Senator,  in  a  conversation  with  the  Hon.  A. 
N.  Hart  of  Michigan,  said  he  was  related  to  this  family  of  Harts. 

Deacon  Stephen  Hart,  the  principal  founder  of  the  Hart  family 
in  this  country,  was  born  in  Braintree,  Essex  County,  England, 
about  1605,  came  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1632,  and  to  Hartford, 
Conn.,  with  Mr.  Hooker's  company  in  1635,  where  he  was  one  of 
the  original  proprietors.  His  home  lot  was  on  the  west  side  of 
what  is  now  called  Front  street,  near  Morgan  street,  and  there  is  a 
tradition  that  the  town  was  called  from  the  ford  he  discovered  and 
used  in  crossing  the  Connecticut  ri^er  at  a  low  stage  of  the  water, 
and  so  from  Hart's  ford  it  soon  became  Hartford.  He  took  the 
lead  about  1645  in  setthng  among  the  Indians  in  Farmington,  pur- 
chasing extensive  tracts  of  land.  His  village  lot  on  Main  street, 
opposite  the  meeting-house,  was  five  times  as  large  as  any  other, 
and  contained  fifteen  acres.  He  was  one  of  the  first  representatives 
in  1647,  and  for  the  succeeding  fifteen  years.  He  was  deacon  of 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker's  church  in  Cambridge  and  Hartford,  also 
first  deacon  of  church  in  Farmington,  organized  in  1652,  under 
Rev.  Roger  Newton,  where  he  died  in  1683,  aged  seventy-seven, 
leaving  three  sons — John,  Stephen,  and  Thomas,  of  the  second  gen- 
eration. 

John  Hart,  eldest  son  of  Dea.  Stephen,  resided  in  Farmington, 
where  he  was  made  a  freeman  in  1654,  and  admitted  to  the  church 
the  same  year.  He  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Tunxis,  called 
after  the  Indian  tribe  of  that  name,  from  which  he  bought  his 
house-lot.  His  sad  and  untimely  death  occurred  on  this  wise,  viz.: 
His  house,  located  near  the  center  of  the  village,  was  fired  in  the 
night  by  the  Indians,  and  he  and  all  his  family,  except  his  eldest 
son,  John,  who  was  absent,  perished  in  the  flames.  All  the  town 
records  were  likewise  burned.  This  fire  occurred  in  1666,  when 
he  was  about  thirty-five  years  of  age. 

Captain  John  Hart,  eldest  son  of  John  Hart,  born  in  Farmington 
in  1665,  was  caring  for  stock  on  his  father's  farm  in  Avon  when 
the  fire  occurred,  and  thus  providentially  saved  to  be  the  progenitor 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  307 

of  a  numerous  posterity.  Many  offices  and  honors  were  con- 
ferred on  him,  and  he  was  a  useful  man  in  Church  and  State.  He 
died  in  Farmington  in  1714,  aged  sixty  years,  being  of  the  third 
generation. 

Dea.  John  Hart,  son  of  Captain  John,  was  deacon  in  Farmington 
and  Kensington,  was  town  clerk  many  years,  and  twenty-three 
times  elected  to  the  General  Court.  He  died  in  1753,  aged  sixty- 
nine,  being  of  the  fourth  generation,  leaving  three  sons — Judah, 
John,  and  Solomon,  of  the  fifth  generation. 

John  Hart,  second  son  of  Deacon  John,  born  October,  1714,  at 
Kensington,  moved  to  Canaan,  Connecticut,  in  1740,  and  to  Corn- 
wall in  1763,  where  he  became  a  large  land-holder.  He  died  Dec. 
18,  1773,  aged  fifty-nine  years.  By  his  second  wife,  Hannah  Gould, 
he  had  five  children ;  none  of  his  descendants  bearing  the  name  of 
Hart  remain  in  Cornwall.  Amy,  their  second  child,  born  in 
1753,  m.  Capt.  Seth  Pierce  of  Cornwall,  and  their  son  Major  Seth 
Pierce  still  resides  here. 

Deacon  Solomon,  third  son,  b.  Oct.  1,  1724,  moved  to  Cornwall 
in  1764,  making  many  purchases  of  land  on  the  river  from  Corn- 
wall Bridge  to  Canaan  line,  also  largely  in  the  present  Hart  school 
district.  He  built  the  large  white  house  which  stood  near  pres- 
ent site  of  Mr.  Isaac  Marsh's  residence,  which  was  called  Hart's 
Tavern,  and  the  locality  now  West  Cornwall  was  then  known  as 
Hart's  Bridge.  He  married,  Mar.  3,  1750,  Experience  Cole  of 
Southington,  and  died  May  15,  1805,  aged  eighty  years,  leaving 
children,  Ruth,  Esther,  Titus,  Lot,  Phineas,  Elias,  Jemima,  Expe- 
rience, and  Solomon,  of  the  sixth  generation. 

Phineas  Hart,  of  the  sixth  generation,  third  son  of  Deacon  Solo- 
mon, born  in  1V58,  did  valiant  service  for  his  country  in  the  Rev- 
olution. He  was  a  pensioner  of  the  general  government.  He 
married  and  lived  in  Cornwall,  where  he  had  children:  Lot,  Solo- 
mon, Mary,  Experience,  and  Jane.  He  removed  West,  where  his 
children  remained.     He  died  in  Cornwall  in  1728,  aged  70  years. 

Captain  Elias  Hart,  fourth  son  of  Deacon  Solomon,  was  born 
May  11,  1759.  He  was  a  brave  youth,-  and  when  the  war  for 
independence  came,  although  scarcely  sixteen  years  of  age,  he 
gave  his  services  heartily  to  his  country,  and  through  seven  cam- 
paigns unflinchingly  faced  the  foe  and  met  the  privations  of  war. 
One  inclement  winter,  when  the  small-pox  was  raging  with  fatal 
effect  in  camp,  he  inoculated  himself,  and  thus  came  through  this 
fearful    scourge  in  safety.     The  inkstand  he  used  after  the  war 


308  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

was  a  small  metal  flask  taken  from  the  enemy  at  Danbury.  He 
married,  June  14,  1781,  Philomela  Burnham,  sister  of  Oliver 
Burnham,  Esq.,  of  Cornwall.  Both  were  consistent  members  of 
the  Second  Congregational  chiirch.  He  moved  in  1784  from 
Hart's  Bridge  to  the  farm  deeded  him  by  his  father  that  year,  the 
house  then  standing  on  the  large  meadow  now  owned  by  E.  Burton 
Hart.  He  served  the  town  many  years  in  positions  of  trust  and 
honor,  and  received  a  pension  till  his  decease,  at  the  age  of  75,  in 
1834;  their  children  being  seventh  generation  : 

Enos  d.  in  childhood;  Elias,  b.  1784,  m.  1807,  Hannah  Harri- 
son of  Cornwall,  d.  Mar.  5,  1865,  se.  80;  Oliver  Burnham,  b.  1787, 
m.  1807,  Amanda  Harrison,  d.  Aug.,  1844,  se.  57;  Laura,  b.  1790, 
m.  1819,  Eber  Harrison,  d.  Mar.,  1875,  se.  85;  Philomela,  b.  1793, 
m.  1814,  Col.  Anson  Rogers;  Julius,  b.  1796,  m.  Jan.  7,  1819, 
Rhoda,  dau.  of  Dea.  Noah  Rogers;  Harriet,  b.  1798,  m.  Gideon  P. 
Pangman,  d.  1853,  se.  55;  Jerusha,  b.  1801,  m.  Palmer  Brown; 
Alvin  Nelson,  b.  1804,  m.  1829,  Charlotte  F.Bali  of  Mass.,  d.  1874, 
8B.  70. 

Titus,  oldest  son  of  Solomon  Hart,  was  born  in  Farmington,  June 
4,  1754;  came  to  Cornwall  with  his  father  at  the  age  of  ten  years. 
Pie  married  Esther  Hand,  and  lived  in  a  house  where  Mrs.  H.  M. 
Hart's  barn  now  stands.  He  was  deacon  of  the  church  in  North 
Cornwall,  eminently  a  man  of  prayer;  he  was  never  known  to  omit 
his  morning  and  evening  devotions,  after  which  he  retired  for  his 
private  or  closet  duties.  He  died  October  31,  1831,  aged  77.  His 
children,  being  the  seventh  generation,  were:  Nathan,  b.  June  12, 
1774,  d.  1861,  £8.  86;  John,  b.  1779,  d.  1801,  as.  22;  Nathan,  m. 
Sylvia  Clark.  He  succeeded  his  father  Titus  as  deacon,  and  was 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school  for  many  years. 

Deacon  Hart  was  largely  identified  with  the  religious  interests  of 
the  town,  and  Litchfield  North  Consociation;  a  man  of  strong 
mind  and  good  sense.  His  children,  being  of  the  eighth  genera- 
tion, were:  John  Clark,  Titus  Leavitt,  Abigail  Amelia,  Hezekiah 
Milton,  Solomon,  Esther  Maria,  Sylvia  Ann,  Mary  Eliza,  Clarissa, 
Nathan,  Delia,  Uri  William.  Of  these,  Titus  Leavitt,  H.  Milton,  and 
Nathan  settled  in  Cornwall,  farmers  by  occupation.  They  are  iden- 
tified with  the  improvement  of  the  agricultural  industries  of  the 
town  and  State.  H.  Milton  was  judge  of  probate,  justice  of  the 
peace,  surveyor,  and  in  the  winter  months  taught  music  in  various 
places  in  the  State.  Nathan  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature 
in  1860,  and  held  many  positions  of  trust  in  the  civil  and  business 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  309 

affairs  of  the  town;  was  also  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Agri- 
culture from  Litchfield  county,  and  its  treasurer  for  several  years. 
John  Clark,  son  of  Deacon  Nathan  Hart,  graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1831,  and  after  a  course  in  theology  at  Andover,  entered 
the  ministry,  and  was  a  devout  and  successful  minister.  He  mar- 
ried,  first,  Emily  Irene,  daughter  of  Oliver  Burnham,  and,  second, 
Mrs.  R.  K.  Moore;  he  died  at  Ravenna,  Ohio,  Sept.,  1871,  fe.  67. 
At  this  time  (October  1,  1877),  of  this  family  of  twelve  children, 
six  are  living:  Titus  Leavitt,  Sharon,  Conn.;  Sylvia  Ann  Whittle- 
sey, New  Preston ;  Mary  Eliza  —  Nodine,  Vt. ;  Clarissa  —  Nodine, 
matron  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  Rochester,  N;  Y. ;  Nathan,  West 
Cornwall;  Uri  William,  North  Haven,  Conn. 

Children  of  H.  Milton,  being  of  the  ninth  generation:  Sylvia 
Rosalia,  Mary  Jane,  John  Milton,  Albert  Judson,  W^ilham  Clarence. 
Children  of  Nathan,  being  the  ninth  generation:  Ellen  Clarissa, 
m.  John  Cotton  Sherwood;  Charles  Whittlesey,  Gould  Whittlesey. 
Titus  L.  Hart  has  no  children,  but  adopted  a  nephew  of  his  wife, 
Horace  Hart,  who  succeeds  in  the  occupancy  of  his  farm. 

The  children  of  Ehas  Hart  and  Hannah  Harrison,  being  the  eighth 
generation,  were:  Albert  B.,  b.  1806;  Flora  Ann,  b.  1811;  Elias 
Nelson,  b.  1813;  Harriet  E.,  b.  1815;  John  Elias,  b.  1817;  Caro- 
line A.,  b.  1819;  Hannah  M.,  b.  1821;  Juliette,  b.  1823;  Edmund 
H.,  b.  1826;  Alvin  Henry,  b.  1828;  JerushaR.,  b.  1830. 

Of  these  but  one  son,  Albert  B.,  lives  at  present  in  the  town,  and 
two  daughters,  Mrs.  Harriet  Wetherby  and  Mrs.  Juliette  (Horace) 
Hitchcock. 

Hon.  Alvin  Nelson  Hart,  youngest  child  of  Captain  Ehas,  edu- 
cated at  Amherst  College,  was  the  first  settler  of  Lapeer,  Mich.,  in 
1831.  He  held  the  oflBces  of  sheriff,  supervisor,  representative, 
State  senator,  and  judge  of  Lafayette  county.  Removed  to  Lan- 
sing in  1860,  where  he  died.  He  was  engaged  in  real  estate  and' 
merchandise,  and  was  an  efficient  promoter  of  railroads  and  other 
enterprises  for  the  development  of  the  State.  Oliver  Burnham 
Hart,  third  son,  soon  followed  his  brother  to  Lapeer,  where  he  died 
much  lamented.  They  have  many  prominent  descendants  in  the 
State  of  Michigan  and  elsewhere. 

JuHus  Hart,  fourth  son,  has  led  an  active  life  cultivating  the  soil 
on  part  of  the  acres  of  his  ancestors,  and  has  enjoyed  the  society  of 
six  generations.  He  worshiped  many  years  in  the  old  church  at 
the  Center,  contributed  liberally  to  the  construction  of  the  church 
in  North  Cornwall,  and  to  its  subsequent  support,  and  now,  in  his 
eighty-second  year,  rejoices  in  the  erection  of  the  chapel  in  West 


310  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Cornwall ;  which  experience  is  not  shared  by  any  other  male  member 
of  the  Second  Congregational  church.  He  has  served  the  town  well 
m  various  offices,  also  enlisted  heartily  in  the  Washingtonian  temper- 
ance movement  of  1840.  He  was  for  years  president  of  the  local 
society,  and  kept  open  house  for  worthy  temperance  laborers.  He 
made  it  a  rule  to  supply  from  his  own  purse  any  deficiency  in  the 
public  contributions  for  the  adequate  compensation  of  deserving 
speakers.  The  good  resulting  to  this  community  was  positive  and 
enduring. 

Their  children,  born  in  Cornwall,  being  the  eighth  generation. 
Julius  Rogers,  b.  Dec.  15,  1819,  d.  Jan.  31,  1821;  Noah  Rogers,  b 
Sept.  12,  1821;  Julius  Leavitt  and  Lydia  Julia,  b.  Aug.  9,  1826, 
the  latter  d.  June  10,  1827  ;  Elizabeth  Wilson,  b.  Jan.  22,  1829,  d. 
Sept.  28,  1835;  Ehas  Burton,  b.  Feb.  9,  1834;  George  Spencer,  b. 
Feb.  11,  1837. 

Noah  R.,  second  son  of  Julius  Hart,  was  early  a  clerk,  later  a 
manufacturer.  In  1853  he  opened  a  boarding  school  for  boys,  m 
which  he  continued  until  1857,  when  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
business  in  West  Goshen,  thirteen  years.  He  was  superintendent 
of  the  Goshen  Sabbath-school  ten  years,  and  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  there;  is  now  engaged  in 
manufacture  of  printers'  ink  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Nov.  22,  1843, 
married  Lucretia  M.  Barnum  of  Cornwall.  Their  children,  ninth 
generation:  Frederick  Augustus,  b.  July  25,  1849,  at  Cornwall; 
Arthur  Benton,  b.  June  26,  1855,  at  Cornwall;  Mary  Elizabeth,  b. 
Feb.  8,  1859,  at  Goshen;  Emma  Lucretia,  b.  Mar.  16,  1865,  at 
Goshen. 

Julius  D.,  third  son,  from  an  early  age  was  clerk,  till,  in  1857,  in 
partnership  with  his  oldest  brother,  he  succeeded  the  firm  of  A. 
Miles  &  Son  in  West  Goshen.  He  is  now  in  Watertown,  Wis., 
'  engaged  in  the  purchase  of  Western  produce.  He  married,  Aug.  1, 
1863,  Mrs.  Harriet  C.  Watson,  youngest  daughter  of  Capt.  John 
Smith,  formerly  of  Kent,  Ct.  Their  children  are:  Minnie  Luella, 
b.  Nov.  28,  1864,  at  Goshen;  George  Edward,  b.  May  11,  1867,  at 
Goshen. 

E.  Burton  Hart,  fourth  son,  was  born  on  the  homestead  he  now 
owns  and  occupies.  He  labored  on  the  farm  from  the  age  of  seven, 
being  allowed  only  one  short  term  yearly  at  the  common  school 
from  that  time.  He  taught  district  school  at  Cornwall  Center  the 
winter  of  1852-3;  then  for  four  years  both  studied  and  taught  in 
connection  with  the  private  school  known  as  the  West  Cornwall 
Institute,  of  which  he  soon  became  principal  and  proprietor.     In 


RECORDS    OP    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  311 

1857  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  from 
the  Norwich  University  of  Vermont,  and  that  of  Master  of  Arts  in 
1860;  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  1865;  is  now  one  of  the 
board  of  selectmen.  He  was  married,  October  7,  1857,  to  Harriet, 
daughter  of  Lee  Canfield,  Esq.,  of  Salisbury,  Conn. 

Their  children,  being  ninth  generation :  Lee  Canfield,  b.  Nov.  15, 
1862;  Elias  Burton,  b.  Feb.  1,  1865;  Charles  Julius,  b.  June  29, 
1867. 

George  S.  Hart,  youngest  son,  was  brought  up  on  the  farm, 
where  he  performed  all  the  duties  that  fell  to  those  who  are  born 
on  a  farm,  and  did  them  faithfully.  He  was  not  a  strong  youth, 
however,  and  the  mnter  of  1859  and  '60  finds  him  in  the  South, 
whither  he  was  sent  by  his  parents  for  the  benefit  of  his  health. 

It  was  during  this  Southern  trip  that  he  first  conceived  the  idea 
of  entering  the  trade  in  which  he  has  since  won  so  much  reputation. 
Two  years  later,  in  1862,  he  determined,  although  still  in  feeble 
health,  to  go  to  New  York  and  enter  the  great  whirlpool  of  com- 
merce. His  object  was  to  acquire  a  proficiency  in  the  produce 
business,  and  more  especially  the  receiving  and  selling  of  dairy 
products.  It  was  no  easy  task  for  him,  however,  to  secure  the 
employment  he  desired.  He  offered  his  services  without  remuner- 
ation to  many  houses  in  the  trade,  but  this  Connecticut  youth  did 
not  apparently  possess  the  quahties  that  old  merchants  desired, 
and  he  went — as  Lafitte,  the  French  banker,  went — from  store  to 
store,  in  search  of  employment.  As  the  French  boy  came  from 
the  provinces,  and  applied  to  the  leading  financiers  of  Paris,  so  did 
George  S.  Hart  come  from  the  hills  of  Connecticut,  and,  just  as 
Lafitte  worked  and  triumphed,  so  did  he.  If  others  would  not 
employ  him,  he  would  try  his  own  chances,  and  so  hired  a  very 
limited  office  privilege  in  Washington  street.  Here  so  well  did  he 
do,  that  in  a  few  weeks  he  decided  to  locate  on  the  east  side  of  the 
city,  near  the  Produce  Exchange,  and  with  a  limited  capital, 
furnished  by  his  brother  E.  Burton,  he  hired  a  small  office  at  39 
Pearl  street,  with  a  contracted  space  in  front,  on  the  first  floor,  for 
the  reception  of  goods.  Before  the  year  was  out  the  young  mer- 
chant's business  had  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  he  required 
and  had  secured  the  entire  building.  Business  prospered  under 
his  management,  and  after  remaining  at  39  Pearl  street  for  several 
years,  a  move  was  made  to  the  present  commodious  quarters  of 
the  firm,  33  and  35  Pearl  and  22  and  24  Bridge  streets.  From 
the  commencement  of  his  business  in  the  city  he  has  met  with  con- 
tinued success:  no  failures  nor  embarrassments  have  marked  his 


312  HISTORY    OP    CORNWALL. 

course,  and  he  is  now,  and  long  has  been,  regarded  as  one  of  the 
authorities  in  the  trade.  The  business  of  his  firm  is  of  unusual 
magnitude,  and  there  are  daily  receipts  of  dairy  produce  from 
nearly  every  point  of  production  in  the  Union,  the  annual  sales 
amounting  to  over  two  million  dollars.  In  addition  to  Mr.  Hart's 
immense  produce  business,  he  is  a  director  in  the  New  York  Pro- 
duce Exchange  Insurance  Co.,  as  well  as  director  and  executive 
ofiicer  of  some  of  the  leading  railroad  companies  of  the  city.  In 
1856  he  became  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church  at  North 
Cornwall;  and  the  good  teachings  imparted  to  him  in  youth  he  has 
endeavored  to  carry  out  amid  the  turmoil  of  commerce  and  the 
excitement  of  trade.  On  February  23,  1871,  he  married  Anna, 
daughter  of  Charles  H.  and  Anna  Eliza  Dudley  of  New  York  city. 
Their  children:  Anna  Dudley,  b.  Dec.  25,  1871,  d.  Sept.  13, 
1872;  a  daughter  b.  May  27,  1877,  d.  in  infancy. 

The  Adams  Family. 

Deacon  Samuel  Adams  of  the  Baptist  church,  came  to  Cornwall 
from  New  Bedford  in  1800.  He  first  lived  as  a  tenant  in  the  Hol- 
low; afterwards  on  Cream  Hill,  and  finally  bought  a  farm  of 
Nathan  Wickwire  on  Waller  Hill.  He  enjoyed  little  opportunity 
of  education,  but  was  a  man  of  decided  opinions,  and  well  informed 
upon  all  public  matters.  He  served  an  apprenticeship  as  a  wheel- 
wright at  Westerly,  K.  I.  His  father  was  a  captain  of  a  privateer 
in  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  and  perished  while  in  action,  his 
vessel  being  blown  up  by  the  explosion  of  the  magazine. 

Deacon  Adams,  born  June  24,  1776,  married  first  wife,  Hope- 
still  Williams  of  Stonington,  in  1795,  and  had  one  daughter,  Hope, 
who  married  Augustus  Squires,  and  now  lives  at  New  Hartford, 
N.  Y.  In  1835  married  second  wife,  Lorilla  Hurlbut,  and  had 
children: 

Samuel  Judson,  b.  Aug.  23,  1836,  m.  Louisa  A.  Dibble,  and  has 
four  children.  He  is  a  farmer,  hving  on  the  old  homestead;  and 
John  Quincy,  b.  Nov.  2,  1837;  m.  Sophronia  A.  Owen  of  Sharon; 
has  one  son,  Eugene.  John  Quincy  Adams  is  a  lawyer  at  Ne- 
gaunee,  Mich.,  and  is  reported  as  successful  in  his  profession,  and  to 
have  acquired  wealth. 

At  the  time  of  his  first  marriage,  Deacon  Adams  was  25,  and  the 
blooming  bride  48.  To  balance  things,  at  his  second  marriage,  at 
the  age  of  59,  he  took  a  partner  aged  25. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  313 

The  Beers  Family. 

England  is  credited  with  being  the  fatherland  of  the  Beers,  and 
the  genealogical  records  of  the  family  trace  back  to  the  feudal  age, 
under  the  name  of  Beare,  which  was  afterwards  written  Bears, 
with  a  coat-of-arms  to  correspond.*  The  family  were  represented 
in  the  English  army  during  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  and  received 
a  grant  of  land  in  the  north  of  Ireland  for  services  rendered,  and 
a  branch  of  the  family  permanently  settled  in  that  country  in  1646. 
John  Beers,  the  founder  of  the  family  in  this  country,  was  accepted 
an  inhabitant  of  the  town  of  Stratford,  in  Fairfield  county,  Novem- 
ber 25,  1678.  The  records  are  not  definite  upon  the  subject,  but  it 
is  supposed  he  was  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  four  sons,  as  we 
find  that  Samuel  Beers,  son  of  John  and  Mary  Beers,  was  born 
November  9,  1679,  and  the  records  then  show  that  Barnabas  Beers 
m.  Elizabeth  Wilcoxsou,  April  4,  1688;  Samuel  Beers  m.  Sarah 
Sherman,  Jan.  16,  1706;  Josiah  Beers  m.  Elizabeth  Ufford,  May 
10,  1717;  Joseph  Beers  m.  Sarah  Clark,  March  G,  1720;  Abiel 
Beers  m.  Elizabeth  Cammel,  Jan.  16,  1722. 

Barnabas  Beers  left  a  family:  Mary,  b.  Dec.  27,  1689;  Nathan, 
b.  Dec.  1,  1691 ;  Josiah,  b.  Aug.  8,  1693. 

Samuel  Beers,  it  is  believed,  died  without  issue. 

Josiah  Beers  left  a  family:  Elizabeth,  b.  Oct.  16,  1721;  Josiah, 
b.  Dec.  14,  1724;  Ebenezer,  b.  Mar.  18,  1726. 

Joseph  Beers  left  a  family:  Ephraim,  b.  June  25,  1722;  Mary, 
b.  Nov.  20,  1723;  Joseph  and  John,  b.  Oct.  13,  1727;  Andrew,  b. 
Feb.  3,  1729;  Abel,  b.  Sept.  27,  1732;  Sarah,  b.  Feb.  18,  1734; 
Matthew,  b.  Dec.  19,  1736. 

Abiel  Beers  left  a  family:  Ebenezer,  b.  March  18,  1726;  Eunice, 
b.  July  14,  1729;  Abiel,  b.  Sept.  5,  1732. 

Matthew  Beers,  youngest  son  of  Joseph  Beers,  m.  Sarah  Curtis 
of  Stratford,  and  left  a  family:  Curtis,  Silas,  Menzis,  Otis,  Lewis, 
Lucinda. 

Curtis,  eldest  son  of  Matthew  Beers,  was  born  in  Stratford,  March 
25,  1789.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was  apprenticed  to  the  shoe- 
maker's trade,  and  three  years  after  purchased  his  time,  as  was 
customary  then,  and  engaged  to  Enoch  Curtis  to  work  at  his  trade 
in  Darien,  Georgia,  where  at  the  expiration  of  two  years  he  opened 

*  The  coat  ofarms  are  described  as  follows :  Arms  argent  (silver) ;  a  bear 
rampant,  "  sable"  (black) ;  Cantan  Gulez  (red) ;  Crest  on  a  garb  lying  fipwise 
( )   "or"  (gold);  a  raven  "  sable"  (black).     Motto:  Bear  and  forbear. 

40 


314  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

a  boot  and  shoe  store.  In  the  summer  of  1812,  the  store  was  con- 
sumed by  fire,  leaving  him  penniless,  and  in  October,  1812,  became 
to  Cornwall,  and  engaged  with  Captain  Nehemiah  Clark  in  the 
curing  of  leather  and  the  making  of  boots  and  shoes.  Married 
Alice  Curtis  of  Stratford,  September  22,  1817,  and  in  November  of 
same  year  purchased,  in  connection  with  his  brother  Menzis,  the 
house  now  occupied  by  Menzis  Beers  at  Cornwall.  For  several 
years  they  manufactured  boots  and  shoes  for  the  Southern  market, 
a  brother,  Lewis  Beers,  taking  charge  of  the  business  in  Athens, 
Georgia.  In  1822  he  purchased  a  farm  of  Luman  Hopkins,  near 
Cornwall  Bridge,  and  removed  therein  1826,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, which  occupation  he  followed  until  his  decease,  March  10,  1848. 
He  left  a  family:  Job  W.  C,  b.  July  9,  1818;  Henry  L.,  b.  May  9, 
1823;  Sarah  e"!,  b.  Oct.  25,  1825;  Victory  C,  b.  Sept.  25,  1832. 

Henry  L.  Beers  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly 
in  1872  and  1876;  was  selectman  for  some  years,  and  held  many 
offices  of  trust. 

Sarah  E.  m.  Hiram  Pierce  of  Thomaston,  May  31,  1849;  her 
only  daughter  m.  Dr.  Edward  Bradstreet,  and  is  settled  in  Meriden. 
Victory  C.  Beers  m.  Sarah  C.  Harrison,  daughter  of  Myron  Har- 
rison, June  2,  1862,  and  has  one  son,  George  H.,  b.  July 
15,  1866.  He  was  for  several  years  a  member  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic State  Central  Committee;  represented  the  Seventeenth 
Senatorial  District  in  the  Senate  of  1870;  was  selected  as  chairman 
of  the  Board  of  Selectmen  in  1876,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

Menzis  Beers,  third  son  of  Matthew,  was  born  in  Stratford,  July 
23,  1795;  he  permanently  settled  in  Cornwall  in  1817,  and  engaged 
with  his  brothers  Curtis  and  Lewis  in  the  curing  of  leather  and  the 
manufacturing  of  boots  and  shoes  for  the  Southern  market.  They 
opened  a  store  in  Athens,  Georgia,  under  the  name  and  firm  of  C. 
&  M.  Beers  &  Co,  Married  Laura,  daughter  of  Captain  John 
Pierce,  Jan.  1,  1820,  and  has  two  sons:  John  W.,  b.  Jan.  15,  1822; 
Silas  C,  b.  Mar.  13,  1827. 

In  1840,  Menzis  Beers  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  with 
F.  Kellogg,  at  Cornwall,  under  the  firm  name  of  F.  Kellogg  &  Co., 
which  continued  two  years;  but  in  1842  the  firm  of  J.  W.  &  S.  C. 
Beers  opened  a  store  at  North  Cornwall  for  general  merchandising 
and  the  manufacturing  of  gloves  and  mittens,  which  continued 
with  several  partners  till  1860,  when  the  business  was  removed  to 
South  Cornwall,  under  the  firm  name  of  M.  Beers  &  Sons. 

John  W.  Beers  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly  of 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  315 

1857,   and  Silas  C.  was  chosen  town  clerk  and  treasurer  in  1852, 

which  office  he  held  continuously  for  fourteen  years,  and  in  1867 

he  represented  the   town  in  the  General  Assembly.     "Was  chosen 

deacon  of  the  First  Congregational  church  in  1868,  which  position 

he  now  holds. 

The  Sedgwick  Family. 

Members  of  this  family  have  often  appeared  in  this  record,  yet 
some  continuous  account  is  requisite. 

Gen.  Robert  Sedgwick,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  was  the  progenitor  of  that  family  in  this  country.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  time,  and,  according  to 
the  record,  "  was  stout  and  active  in  all  feats  of  war."  This  was 
in  Cromwell's  time,  and  the  account  of  his  services  against  the 
French  and  in  other  public  positions  is  very  complete.  He  died 
at  Jamaica,  W.  I.,  May  24,  1656.  He  had  five  children,  one  of 
whom,  William,  m.  Elizabeth  Stone,  dau.  of  Rev.  Samuel  Stone  of 
Hartford,  and  had  one  child,  Samuel,  b.  1667,  cl.  March  24,  1735, 
in  his  sixty-ninth  year. 

Capt.  Samuel  Sedgwick,  of  the  third  generation,  m.  Mary,  dau. 
of  Stephen  Hopkins,  1689,  and  had  twelve  children. 

Dea.  Benjamin  Sedgwick,  the  youngest  son  of  Samuel,  and  of 
the  fourth  generation,  b.  Nov.  7,  1716,  m.  Anna,  dau.  of  John 
Thompson  of  Wallingford,  and  had  children,  Sarah,  m.  Rev. 
Hezekiah  Gold  of  Cornwall,  and  d.  Aug.  18,  1766;  had  five 
children. 

John,  bap.  March  7,  1742,  of  the  fifth  generation,  m.  Abigail, 
dau.  of  Capt.  Stephen  Andrews  of  Wallingford,  about  1763, 
and  had  children,  John  Andrews,  b.  March  8,  1764;  Sarah,  b.  Dec. 
27,  1765,  d.  unmarried;  Henry,  b.  Sept.  13,  1767;  Roderick,  b. 
March  8,  1770,  d.  3b.  13;  Parnel,  b.  Oct.  4,  1771;  Anne,  b.  April 
6,  1775,  d.  unmarried;  Elizabeth,  b.  Oct.  9,  1777,  d.  Jan.  4,  1778; 
Pamela,  b.  Dec.  21,  1778;  Benjamin,  b.  Jan.  25,  1781;  Stephen 
and  Elizabeth,  twins,  b.  March  1,  1783,  EHzabeth  d.  unmarried; 
Roderick,  b.  Jan.  26,  1785.     Gen.  John  Sedgwick*  m.  second  wife, 

*I  am  informed  by  Gen.  Charles  F.  Sedgwick  of  Sharon,  that  the  statement 
that  Gen.  Swift  was  appointed  Colonel  over  the  head  of  Gen.  Sedgwick,  and 
that  the  latter  resigned  in  consequence,  is  a  great  mistake.  Gen.  C.  F.  Sedg- 
wick says :  "  From  a  statement  made  by  Gen.  S.,  now  before  me,  I  learn  that 
he  was  appointed  a  Captain  in  Col.  Hinman's  regiment  in  the  spring  of  1775. 
Swift's  regiment  was  raised  in  1776,  but  Gen.  Sedgwick  had  no  connection  with 
it  until  as  stated  below.     Gen.  Swift  was  the  first  Colonel,  and  he  had  been  an 


316  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Lewis  of  Parmington,  but  had  no  children  by  this 
marriage.     He  d.  Aug.  28,  1820. 

The  other  children  of  Dea.  Benjamin  were:  Benjamin,  bap. 
March  11,  1744;  Theodore,  bap.  May,  1746  (Yale,  1765).  History 
says  of  him:  "Hon.  Theodore  Sedgwick,  LL.  D.,  was  one  of  the 
great  and  good  men  of  his  time."  He  resided  at  Stockbridge, 
Mass.  His  sons  Theodore,  Henry,  Robert,  and  Charles  were  also 
eminent  lawyers.  His  daughters  were,  Ehza,  m.  Dr.  Pomeroy  of 
Northampton,  Mass.;  Pameha,  m.  Elkanah  Watson  of  Albany, 
N,  Y.;  Frances  P.,  m.  Ebenezer  Watson  of  New  York;  and 
Catharine  M.,   widely  known  as  a  writer  of  ability. 

John  A.  Sedgwick,  of  the  sixth  generation,  m.  and  had  children: 
Charles  F.,  a  lawyer,  living  in  Sharon;  Albert,  living  in  Bantam 
Falls.     Mary  Ann  m.  Mr.  Noyes;  Amanda  m.  Mr.  Bridgman. 

Henry  m.  Hannah,  dau.  of  Capt.  Edward  Rogers,  and  noticed  in 
Rogers  Family;  Pamelia  m.  Jonathan  Bates  and  had  one  daughter, 
Pamelia,  who  m.  Charles  Hunt  of  Canaan. 

Benjamin  m.  Olive,  dau.  of  Philo  Collins  of  Goshen,  and  had 
children:  Philo  Collins,  b.  July  18,  1810;  John,*b.  Sept.  13,  1813; 
Ohve  Collins,  b.  Jan.  15,  1817,  m.  Ashbel  Fuller  of  Kent,  d.  with- 
out children,  Jan.  15,  1856;  Emily,  b.  Nov.  6,  1819,  m.  Dr.  Wm. 
Welsh  of  Norfolk,  1869;  Eliza,  b.  Nov.  7,  1824,  d.  Feb.  15,  1831. 

Benjamin  Sedgwick  was  a  farmer  in  Cornwall  Hollow.  His 
character  and  position  are  well  given  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 
He  died  March  15,  1857.     Olive  C,  his  wife,  d.  July  12,  1859. 

Gen.  Charles  F.  Sedgwick,  of  the  seventh  generation,  m.  Betsey, 
dau.  of  Cyrus  Swan,  Esq.,  of  Sharon,  and  had   children:  Betsey 

officer  in  the  French  war,  and  was  very  properly  selected  as  its  commanding 
officer.     I  copy  from  my  grandfather's  statement  as  follows  : 

"'In  the  winter  of  1776,  I  was  appointed  a  Major  in  the  regiment  commanded 
by  Col.  Charles  Burral,  to  succor  our  army  after  the  defeat  of  Gen.  Montgom- 
ery, and  crossed  the  lakes  on  the  ice.' '  In  the  arrangement  of  the 

army  in  1777,  I  was  transferred  into  a  regiment  commanded  by  Heman  Swift, 
Esq.,  and  served  with  the  main  army  under  General  Washington,  and  hotted 
at  Valley  Forge.'" 

This  statement  is  consistent  with  the  fact  that  Gen.  Swift  had  been  Colonel  of 
the  regiment  for  a  year  and  a  half  before  Gen.  Sedgwick  joined  it.  He  served 
under  Gen.  Swift  through  all  the  campaign  of  1777  ;  was  in  the  battle  of  Ger- 
mantown,  and  remained  with  the  army  till  encamped  at  Valley  Forge. 

The  appointment  which  gave  him  offense,  and  led  to  his  resignation,  was  that 
of  two  young  Captains  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  to  the  office  of  Colonel. 
One  of  them  was  Eleazer  Huntington,  afterwards  Adjutant-General  of  the  State 
militia.  T.  S.  G. 

*  For  the  record  of  Maj.  Gen.  John  Sedgwick,  see  Soldiers  of  the  Rebellion. 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  317 

Swan,  John,  Harriett  Maria,  Emma  Denison,  Charles  Henry, 
Caroline  Swan,  Mary  Gould,  Robert  Adam,  Cyrus  Swan,  and 
Annie  Rachel. 

Gen.  Sedgwick  (AVilliams,  1813)  is  well  known  as  well  versed  in 
the  pedigree  of  all  this  part  of  New  England.  My  thanks  are  due 
to  him  for  his  historical  addresses  and  other  contributions  which 
add  so  much  to  the  value  of  this  volume.  His  history  of  Sharon 
is  very  comprehensive,  and  gives  many  facts  in  a  small  space. 

Hon.  Albert  Sedgwick,  of  the  seventh  generation,  m.  Mary  Hunt 
of  Canaan.  October,  1822,  and  had  children:  John  R.,  Mary  H., 
E.  Buel,  Catharine,  Albert,  Theodore,  Dwight,  Charles  F.,  and 
Elizabeth,  all  now  living  except  Theodore  and  Dwight.  Albert 
Sedgwick  obtained  the  establishment  of  a  post-office  in  the  Hollow 
in  1824,  and  received  a  commission  as  postmaster  from  Amos 
Kendall,  P,  M.,  during  the  presidency  of  Andrew  Jackson;  was 
sheriff  of  the  county  for  seventeen  years,  till  he  resigned  in  1854, 
and  was  appointed  Commissioner  of  the  School  Fund,  May  session, 
1854,  which  office  he  held  for  twelve  years. 

Philo  Sedgwick,  son  of  Benjamin,  of  the  seventh  generation, 
married  Eliza,  daughter  of  William  Adams  of  Canaan,  Oct.  2, 
1833,  and  had  children  :  William,  b.  Nov.  7,  1834,  d.  March  12, 
1835;  AdaLouise,  b.  March  16,  1836,  d.  Dec.  2,  1866;  John  Benja- 
min, b.  Jan.  25,  1840,  d.  Oct.  18,  1867;  Emily,  b.  April,  1842; 
Harry,  b.  May  6,  1848. 

Philo  Sedgwick  was  a  lawyer,  and  resided  for  many  years  at 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  but  afterwards  returned  to  Cornwall.  He  died 
Nov.  20,  1868.  Of  his  children,  John  B.  m.  Catherine,  dau.  of 
Noah  Rogers,  and  had  two  children:  Emily  m.  Harlan  Page 
Tracy  of  Elmwood,  111.,  June  16,  1869,  and  have  one  son,  John 
Sedgwick,  b.  Sept.  19,  1872;  Harry  m.  Katharine  M.,  dau.  of 
Newton  Reed  of  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  1,  1869,  and  have  children: 
Emily  Irene,  b.  Nov.  13,  1870,  d.  Dec.  23,  1870;  Benjamin,*  b. 
July  3,  1872;  Clara  Benton,  b.  Jan.  25,  1874,  and  John,  b.  March 
17,  1876. 

Major-General  John  Sedgwick  was  killed  at  Spottsylvania  Court 
House,  Va.,  May  9,  1864.  His  record  is  given  elsewhere.  The 
following  extract  from  a  letter  written  when  he  was  a  lieutenant,  to 
Dr.  S.  W.  Gold,  is  here  given  as  part  of  his  history: 

*  At  the  semi-centennial  at  North  Cornwall,  July  19,  1876,  James  Douglas 
Gold,  Benjamin  Sedgwick,  and  Dwight  Rogers  were  appointed  a  committee  of 
arrangements  for  the  next  semi-centennial,  1926. 


318  HISTORY    OF    CORNWALL. 

City  of  Mexico,  November  28,  1847. 
My  Dear  Doctor  : 

My  last  lettei-  from  home  was  elated  July  8th,  and  but  one  opportunity 
has  occurred  of  sending  letters  from  here  since,  with  any  certainty  of 
their  reaching  their  destination.  Tliis  necessary  grievance  has  now  been 
remedied  by  the  occupation  of  the  dangerous  passes  with  our  troops,  and 
we  now  anticipate  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  home  at  least  once  a 
month.  The  important  political  events  that  transpire  in  the  States,  are 
brought  here  either  by  the  English  courier  or  Mexican  mails  ;  the  Mexi- 
can government  being  much  better  and  sooner  informed  of  the  numbers 
and  destinations  of  all  reinforcements  that  General  Scott  receives  than  he 
is  himself — the  first,  and  very  often  the  only,  information  that  he 
receives  of  the  arrival  of  troops  is  tlirough  the  Mexican  government. 
You  have  no  doubt  seen  more  fully  the  details  of  the  battles  fought  here 

in  the  Valley,  than  1  could  give  you  in  a  short  letter Allow  me 

to  relate  a  little  incident,  which,  I  think,  reflects  much  credit  on  my  regi- 
ment. During  the  severe  battle  of  Cherubusco,  an  aide-de-camp  of  our 
brigade  went  to  General  Worth  to  report  the  progress  ;  but  before  he 
could  speak,  General  Worth  says :  "  How  is  this,  sir ;  I  hear  that  your 
brigade  has  given  back  ? "  The  aide  said  :  "  No,  sir,  I  have  just  left  the 
advance,  where  the  Second  Artillery  are  warmly  engaged  with  the  enemy  ; 
not  a  man  has  fallen  back,  and  what  is  more,  they  will  drive  the  enemy 
from  their  position  in  fifteen  minutes."  This  was  done,  altliough  not  in 
the  time  he  mentioned.  This  was  told  me  by  Lieut.  Thorne,  the  aide, 
who  is  the  son  of  Colonel  Thorne  that  has  resided  many  years  in  Paris, 
and  of  whom  you  have  no  doubt  heard.  In  the  action  above  mentioned, 
the  color-bearer  was  shot  down,  and  the  colors  taken  by  a  sergeant  of 
my  company.  Just  before  we  reached  the  breast-work  of  the  enemy, 
aiid  when  the  balls  were  flying  the  thickest,  the  sergeant  said  to  me : 
"  Lieutenant,  shall  I  shake  out  the  colors,  to  let  the  Mexicans  know  who 
are  after  them  ?  "  so  confident  was  every  soldier  in  the  result.  This  same 
sergeant,  in  tlie  battle  of  the  13th — the  day  we  entered  the  city — was 
strtcken  down  by  a  grape-shot,  by  my  side.  In  falling,  he  said:  "Push 
on.  Lieutenant,  and  get  out  of  this  fire ;  they  have  got  me  at  last ;"' 
but  what  was  my  surprise,  in  two  hours,  to  see  the  sergeant  join  the  com- 
pany, cheering  the  men  on,  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  The  ball  had 
struck  his  shoulder,  depriving  him  for  a  time  of  his  breath,  but  not 
proving  a  serious  wound.  This  was  the  most  serious  place  I  was  ever  in. 
Seven  men  nearest  me  were  struck  with  this  discharge.  You  can  imagine 
something  how  serious  ;  we  were  advancing  down  tlie  street,  witli  houses 
on  one  side  and  an  aquediifct  on  the  other,  and  across  this  street  was 
placed  three  twelve-pounders,  jiouring  a  terrible  fire  of  grape-shot.  But 
we  had  the  satisfaction  of  taking  those  guns,  and  sleeping  that  night,  for 
the  first  time,  in  the  great  city  of  the  Aztecs.  For  this  night,  and  the 
two  previous  ones,  I  had  slept  out,  without  a  blanket  to  cover  me,  or 
anything  but  a  crust  of  hard  bread  to  eat.  You  may  imagine  I  was  very 
much  exhausted,  but  add  to  this,  that  when  we  lay  down,  there  was 
every  prospect  that  the  battle  would  be  renewed  the  next  morning. 
Although  we  knew  we  were  inside  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  that 
nothing  could  prevent  our  taking  it,  yet  we  did  not  believe  that  they 
would  give  it  up  without  one  more  eff"ort.  Such,  however,  was  the  case. 
About  midnight  a  deputation  arrived  from  the  city,  saying  that  the 
troops  were  leaving,  and  wanted  to  make  some  terms  of  surrender.  Gen- 
eral Scott  told  them  it  was  inmiaterial  to  him  whether  the  troops  left  or 
not;  that  at  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  would  be  in  the  Palace,  and 
there  he  would  dictate  terms  to  them.  Early  the  next  morning  (day- 
light) the   troops  were   all  under  Jarms,  General  Worth's   division   in 


RECORDS    OP    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  319 

advance,  when  a  shout  came  from  tlie  rear  that  could  be  heard  for  miles, 
each  regiment  taking  it  up,  and  presently  General  Scott  rode  up,  in  full 
uniform,  with  his  staff,  speaking  a  few^  words  as  he  passed  the  different 
regiments.  Here  General  Quitman's  division  passed  ours,  and  marched 
to  the  main  Plaza,  and  had  the  honor  to  first  plant  their  colors  in  the 
Halls  of  the  Montezumas.  There  was,  however,  a  good  deal  of  firing 
from  the  houses  all  day,  but  with  little  execution.  Thus  has  ended  the 
second  fall  of  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  if  so  many  gallant  achievements 
have  not  been  performed  as  were  by  the  cavaliers  under  Cortez,  the  result 
is  the  same.  Our  loss  has  been  terrible  since  we  first  entered  the  Valley. 
All  that  left  Puebla  were  capable  of  undergoing  almost  any  fatigue.  Of 
fifty-two  men  that  I  brought  from  Puebla,  twenty-six  have  been  killed 
or  wounded.  Thank  God,  I  have  yet  been  spared,  and  I  trust  that  He 
will  still  keep  me  to  visit  again  all  my  friends.  I  have  enjoyed  most 
excellent  health  since  I  entered  the  Valley ;  the  weather  is  as  mild  as 
May  with  you,  but  at  all  seasons  can  you  look  in  all  directions  and  see 
the  snow-capped  mountains.  The  most  famous  of  them  is  Popocatapetl ; 
from  this  the  smoke  is  frequently  seen,  and  lava  and  ashes  running  down 
its  side.  There  are  others,  the  most  perfect  craters  you  can  imagine — 
some  where  the  second  eruption  has  taken  place,  making  a  perfect  cone 

on  the  shoulders  of  the  first 

Sincerely  yours,  J.  S. 

The  Shepard  Family. 

Allen  Shepard  came  to  Cornwall  from  Newtown,  with  his 
family,  in  1798.  His  son  Eliphalet  H.  Shepard  was  born  in  New- 
town, 1789;  m.  July  7,  1813,  Mary,  dan.  of  Judah  Kellogg,  d.  Aug. 
12,  1865,  leaving  four  children:  George  H.,  Charles  N.,  who 
resided  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  died  unmarried  at  West  Cornwall, 
July  23,  1876,  Elbert,  and  Harriett. 

Elbert,  b.  May  2,  1824,  m.  May  31,  1846,  Cynthia  L.,  dau. 
of  George  Wheaton,  and  has  one  son,  George  W.,  b,  December 
25,  1854. 

Mr.  Shepard  is  a  farmer,  residing  at  West  Cornwall  at  this  time, 
1878,  represents  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  has  held 
many  offices  of  trust.  He  is  a  Methodist,  and  a  prominent  sup- 
porter of  that  denomination,  but  his  generous  donation  to  the 
chapel  at  West  Cornwall,  and  especially  the  gift  from  himself  and 
his  family  of  the  location,  will  ever  remain  as  a  testimonial  of  their 
liberal  Christian  spirit. 

Eliphalet  Shepard  was  a  Methodist,  an  earnest  worker  in  that 
denomination ;  a  man  pure  and  peaceable,  and  much  respected  by 
his  fellow-citizens. 

George  H.  Shepard  resides  in  Brooklyn,  N .  Y.,  and  married  first 
wife,  Hannah  Woolsey,  June  3,  1840,  by  which  marriage  he  had 
one  daughter,  Phebe.  Hannah  d.  June  20,  1844,  and  he  m.  second 
wife,  Oct.  7,  1847,  and  had  children:  Charles  Edward,  Jessie  Wool- 
sey, Elizabeth  Siliiman,  Mary  Cynthia,  and  George  Augustus.    ♦ 


320  HISTORY    OF   CORNWALL. 

Harriett  married  Morris  Tuttle,  Oct.  14,  1867;  resides  in  Goshen, 
and  has  no  children. 

The  North  Family. 

Dr.  Joseph  North  resided  north  of  the  Carrington  Todd  place, 
and  practiced  medicine  for  many  years.  He  died  September  22, 
1848,  aged  76.  He  had  children:  Ethel,  who  went  West,  had  a 
family,  and  died  there  ;  Dr.  Burritt  B.  (d.  July  18,  1876,  8b.  72),  m. 
Maria  L.  Pierce,  and  had  children,  George,  William,  Paschal, 
Alice,  Roland;  Dr.  Loomis  went  to  Bethlem,  m.  Miss  Bird, 
removed  to  New  Britain,  where  he  died ;  had  one  son  Edward,  and 
one  daughter  Jennie;  Joseph  (d.  1877)  ra.  Mary  Miner,  and  had 
children;  Dr.  Hammond  of  Goshen,  Mary,  George,  William,  Min- 
nie, and  Ella  ;  Mary  m.  Chester  Birge,  and  lived  in  New  Britain. 

The  Webb  Family. 
Darius  Webb  came  from  Warren  in  1832,  as  agent  of  the  Corn- 
wall Bridge  Furnace,  where  he  remained  about  twenty  years.  He 
then  went  to  Wyandotte,  Mich.,  where  he  established  a  successful 
furnace.  His  son,  J.  J.  Webb,  in  1835  went  to  Rahway,  N.  J., 
and  in  1844  engaged  as  a  tx'ader  to  Santa  Fe.  At  that  time,  Inde- 
pendence, Missouri,  was  the  starting-point  for  transporting  goods 
across  the  plains  to  Mexico.  The  teams  employed  were  mostly 
oxen,  sometimes  mules;  load  about  three  tons,  twenty-five  teams 
of  six  yoke  each,  and  about  fifty  men  in  each  train.  His  first  pas- 
sage required  seventy  days ;  the  second,  eighty-three.  He  followed 
this  business  for  fourteen  years,  when,  returning  to  Connecticut, 
Mr.  Webb  purchased  a  farm  in  Hamden.  His  success  as  a  farmer 
is  well  known,  and  his  testimony  that  "Connecticut  is  a  good  place 
for  a  farmer,"  is  the  more  valuable  from  his  wide  experience  and 
familiarity  with  the  broad  fields  of  the  West. 

John  T.  Andrew, 
a  native  of  the  county  of  New  Haven,  was  born  July  19,  1811, 
graduated  at  Yale,  1839;  studied  theology  in  the  Yale  Theological 
Seminary,  and  graduated  in  1842  with  the  highest  honors  of  his 
class.  Prevented  from  entering  upon  his  chosen  profession  by 
bronchial  disease,  after  waiting  two  years,  spent  partly  in  teaching 
a  select  school  in  Cornwall,  and  finding  little  improvement  of  his 
voice,  he  turned  his  attention  to  agriculture,  and,  in  1847,  pur- 
chased a  farm  near  West  Cornwall,  and  engaged  in  his  new  calling 
with  great  enthusiasm  and  success.  He  has  written  occasional 
articles  for  the  press  on  subjects  chiefly  agricultural;  has  been  an 
active  member  of  various  local,  and  vice-president  of  the  National 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  321 

Agricultural  Society.  In  1861  he  retired  to  the  village  of  Corn- 
wall, where  he  has  since  resided.  His  fellow-citizens  have 
employed  his  leisure  time  in  various  services  reqiiiring  intelligence, 
learning,  and  taste.  He  has  been  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of 
education,  long  a  member,  and  during  several  years  chairman  of 
the  Board  of  School  Visitors.  He  has  been  among  the  most  active 
in  all  village  improvements,  and  has  contributed  liberally  to  works 
of  benevolence  and  philanthropy.  He  became  in  early  youth  a 
member  of  the  Christian  church,  and  spent  the  best  years  of  his  life 
in  preparation  for  its  ministry.  That  early  hope  he  has  long  since 
relinquished,  but  has  never  forgotten  his  early  consecration  to  the 
elevation  of  man  through  the  general  prevalence  of  learning  and 
good  morals,  based  on  a  pure  Christianity. 

The  marriage  of  Mr.  Andrew  was  on  the  9th  of  September,  1839, 
to  Jane  Ann,  the  daughter  of  Caleb  Jones  of  Cornwall,  mentioned 
elsewhere  in  this  record.     They  have  had  no  children. 

The  family  of  Mr.  Andrew  is  found  among  the  earliest  which 
came  to  this  country.  William  and  Mary,  the  tirst  family  now 
known  in  this  genealogy,  cotemporaneous  with  Shakspeare,  came 
to  this  country  and  died  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  A.  D.  1639. 

Samuel,  their  son,  b.  1621,  m.  Elizabeth  White,  dau.  of  John 
White,  England,  1652,  and  d.  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1701. 

Samuel,  second  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth,  was  born  in  Cam- 
bridge in  1655;  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1675;  settled  as  pastor 
in  Milford,  Conn.,  1685,  and  died  there  in  1738. 

Jonathan,  son  of  Samuel,  2d,  b.  at  Milford,  1701,  m.  1723,  and 
left  among  other  children,  Jonathan,  2d,  b.  1730. 

Jonathan,  2d,  had  children,  the  eldest  of  which,  John,  left  two 
sons,  Jonathan  and  Munson,  the  former  of  whom  was  father  to 
John  T.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Of  the  generations  of  the 
family  now  known,  he  is  the  eighth,  thus: 

1.  William,  b.  15-,  d.  1639. 

2.  Samuel,  b.  1621,  d.  1701. 

3.  Samuel,  2d,  b.  1655,  d.  1737. 

4.  Jonathan,  b.  1701,  d.  1740. 

5.  Jonathan,  2d,  b.   1730. 

6.  John. 

7.  Jonathan. 

8.  John  T.,  b.  1811. 

Among  the  names  in  this  line  more  or  less  distinguished,  was 
41 


322  HISTORY    OP   CORNWALL. 

that  of  Samuel  in  the  second  generation,  living  from  1621  to  1701. 
The  inscription  on  his  monument  in  the  old  burial  ground  in  Cam- 
bridge, as  quoted  in  Harris'  Book  of  Epitaphs,  is  as  follows:  "  Here 
lies  buried  ye  body  of  Samuel  Andrew,  aged  about  80  years — died 
June  21,  1701,  son  of  Mr.  William  Andrew,  deceased,  and  his  wife 
Mary,  who  died  Jan.  19th,  1639,  0.  S.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
church,  and  married  Elizabeth  White  (whose  father,  John 
White,  had  lived  in  England),  Sept.  22,  1652.  Town  Clerk  and 
Treasurer,  1691,  1694,  1696,  and  Selectman  from  1681  to  1693, 
inclusive." 

Governor  John  A.  Andrew  of  Massachusetts,  was  of  the  Salem 
branch  of  the  family.  His  brilliant  career  as  the  war  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  during  the  late  war  is  within  the  memory  of  the 
present  generation,  and  needs  no  record  here. 

The  man  who  has  done  most  to  honor  the  name  of  Andrew, 
was  Samuel,  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth,  and  grandson  of 
Williaiii  and  Mary  of  Cambridge.  His  talents,  thorough  culture, 
and  usefulness,  especially  in  his  relation  to  Yale  College,  have 
raised  his  name  above  those  of  his  kindred,  and  placed  it  among 
those  of  the  great  benefactors  of  mankind. 

He  was  b.  at  Cambridge  1655,  graduated  at  Harvard  1675, 
studied  at  the  College  as  resident  graduate  four  years,  and  in 
1679  was  chosen  Fellow,  and  was  engaged  during  the  six  succeed- 
ing years  as  an  associate  of  the  Faculty  in  both  the  instruction 
and  government  of  the  College.  The  whole  period  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  College  was  as  student  and  instructor  fourteen 
years.  He  thus  acquired  that  thorough  scholarship  and  educa- 
tional skill  which  so  eminently  qualified  him  for  the  founding  and 
superintending  a  new  institution  destined  to  become  the  glory  of 
the  State.  As  a  student  he  had  been  faithful  and  thorough  ;  as  a 
member  of  the  Faculty  his  ability  and  efficiency  were  recognized 
by  the  Corporation  by  repeated  votes  of  praise,  and  frequent 
additions  to  his  salary.  In  1681  he  was  honored  by  admission  to 
the  freedom  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  In  the  year 
1685  he  was  called  from  Harvard  to  become  pastor  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church  in  Milford,  Conn.  At  the  time  of  his 
settlement  he  was  perhaps  the  most  thoroughly  educated  and  one 
of  the  most  learned  and  able  men  in  the  Colony.  His  attention 
was  soon  directed  to  the  fact  that  there  was  nothing  like  a  college 
in  the  State.  Having  associated  with  himself  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pier- 
pont  of    New  Haven,  and    the   Rev.  Mr.   Russell   of    Branford, 


RECORDS    OF    EARLY    AND    PRESENT    RESIDENTS.  323 

these  three,  says  President  Clap  in  his  Annals,  became  the  "most 
forward  and  active  "  in  founding  a  new  college.  So  forward  and 
active  were  they,  that  friends  gathered  about  and  encouraged 
them,  and  the  work  went  on  so  rapidly,  that  fifteen  years  after  his 
settlement,  viz.,  1700,  the  college  was  founded,  and  the  next  year 
received  the  Charter  of  the  State.  Prof.  Kingsley  says:  "Mr. 
Andrew  was  considered  one  of  the  bes